Changed Overnight
by Trevelyan Duke
Summary: Ranma & Akane battle with their feelings in big pools of mush & drama. Expect a lot of people to meddle in putting them together and splitting them apart. Warning: tear jerker, heartwarming, emotional... and fluffy!
1. You Get What You Want

**Author's Notes:** This version of Changed Overnight has been revised… thrice (yes, people, it's reached its third revision because of the spelling and grammatical errors I've missed during the second). If you don't like dramatic and mushy dialogue exchanges, then this one's not for you. Otherwise, enjoy. (",)

**Disclaimer:** Not mine, not yours, but hers. I know.

* * *

**Changed Overnight**

**Chapter One: You Get What You Want**

He woke up and slowly opened his eyes. He found himself in the comfort of a very beautiful girl's breasts, in her loving presence. He blushed, trying to remember how he ended up in this girl's room. Did something happen between the two of them?

He looked again and discovered the sad truth. He was a little black piglet, and the only way he found himself beside this girl is because she found him cute and decided to keep him as a pet.

_I like to look at her when she sleeps._

_I never know how it happens, but my eyes just turn to her whenever she's there. When I sleep beside her on her bed, I always wake up before her, and I never know how that happens, either. I rise early and the morning sleepiness goes away when I listen to her soft breathing and feel her tender breasts rise and fall beside me._

_Then I find myself staring at her splendor. She's the most beautiful of Kami-sama's creations. He must have spent a little – no, a lot more time in making her. Those lips so pink, her little nose that looks so cute especially when she's confused because it scrunches up, her ebony eyes that sparkle so divinely that they seem dimly blue or magically brown, at present covered by her eyelids with long, gorgeous lashes – nobody else is as wonderful as her._

_Sometimes I can't help thinking what would happen if she finds out I am Ryouga. And it scares me, giving me a reason why I couldn't tell her the truth. To discover that her pet piglet is actually human, and that she's been letting it sleep beside her and see her naked almost everyday could be very unbelievable at first, then it becomes a source of anger._

_I don't want her to hate me._

_I wish I could be in this same situation someday as a human being! When Akane wakes up, she'd say _"Ohayou, Ryouga-kun,"_ instead of _"Ohayou, P-chan."_ She'd kiss me softly not on my snout but on my human lips. I want her to know me as Ryouga, the person who loves her so much that he's willing to risk his life for her, and not her piglet P-chan who is just a pet, an animal. But some wishes may not come true, and I'm afraid my wish is one of them._

_This morning is no different from any other mornings I've awakened to find myself in the presence of an angel. Seeing her so calmly asleep and feeling her heavenly breasts on my tiny little body used to make everything peaceful. But suddenly staring at her doesn't seem enough for this feeling that's growing bigger and bigger in my chest. So I go near her and give her sweet lips a little kiss, and prepare to say something to her._

_Of course I know she wouldn't understand what I'd be saying, because all that would come out from my mouth is a little "Bwee." But somehow, whenever I'm a piglet, she understands the sounds that I make. Sometimes we even have conversations and her words just make me feel tingly all over, that this curse seems to become a blessing._

_I snuggle close, blushing, to whisper to her ear a secret._

"_I love you."_

_Maybe someday I'd say those very words to her when she's awake, and she'll understand me._

Akane blinked and saw the rays of the morning sun peeking through her window. She smiled as the little black figure resting on her chest looked at her groggily.

"Ohayou, P-chan," she greeted the piglet. "Did you sleep well?"

"Bwee."

Akane kissed P-chan and went out of her room to take a bath. She went back twenty minutes later, wet and bare except for a white towel that covered her body. P-chan quickly turned away, his face tomato red.

_I am _never_ taking advantage of Akane being naked just because I'm her pet!_

After dressing up for school, Akane carried P-chan in her arms, proceeding to breakfast.

"Ohayou, Akane," greeted Kasumi, the eldest of the Tendo sisters.

"Ohayou," Akane answered cheerfully.

By the breakfast table she saw her father Soun reading the newspaper, her uncle Genma and his son Ranma chowing down their breakfast, grandfather Happosai, and her two older sisters, Nabiki and Kasumi. She got her own bowl and started eating the delicious noodles Kasumi had cooked. She took time in occasionally feeding P-chan some noodle strands using her own chopsticks.

"You're feeding him from your own bowl!"

Akane threw Ranma a dirty look. "That's very observant of you, but it's none of your business. At least he's not a FREELOADER."

"Baka," he muttered. "Just wait 'til you get rabis…"

P-chan smiled contentedly after slurping another noodle.

* * *

When Ranma and Akane went home after school, nobody was in the house. There was a note posted on the fridge, though, informing them that Kasumi had gone to buy food and Mr. Saotome and Mr. Tendo went out with Happosai. Nabiki was probably doing business with some vulnerable people in the streets of Nerima.

"Well, it looks like we're the only ones at home, Ranma," Akane sighed. "Want to eat something?"

"Oh yeah, I'm starving. What's in the fridge?"

"Well, I was thinking of cooking."

"Aheheh…" Ranma laughed rather awkwardly. "No thanks, I ain't hungry after all. N-not… stomach… die…" he mumbled incoherently, quickly sliding out of the kitchen.

_I'm not really feeling suicidal right now, Akane, sorry._

Akane stood there for a second until she heard the door close. She went out of the kitchen, continued to the dining room and dropped on her knees, waiting for Kasumi to arrive. She sat in silence, taking in the sight of the pink sunset and the koi in the pond splashing in anticipation of the night.

Then she heard the familiar ring of a bicycle. She listened closely, hearing the faint voices of Ranma and Shampoo by the front door, and felt the instinct to get up and go to them. Instead, she restrained herself and continued to listen.

"Nihao, Ranma! Dumplings and ramen!"

"Oh, good! I'm starving…"

"Why not get food from house?"

"Nah. Akane's the only one home with me. You know her cooking, it's horrible. Thanks," Ranma said gratefully as Shampoo handed him the food.

Akane felt her insides churning with anger as she balled her hands into fists. "Ranma no baka!" she grumbled through gritted teeth. She wanted to mallet him so badly! She got up and stomped her feet, preparing to give the pigtailed pig a piece of her mind, but she had stopped herself before she could get out of the room, not wanting to destroy the house that everybody had just repaired.

She didn't calm down, though, as she paced the room like a caged tiger.

_How am I supposed to get better in cooking if I don't practice? He should have told me he wanted something else; I still have those potato chips in my room. But I don't care if he starves to death! Baka! Epitome of idiocy!_

She marched, not to Ranma's direction so she could stuff her fist in his gut, but to her room where she plopped on her bed and stared at the ceiling. She was still so angry and she wanted very much to burst out several nasty words, but she had second thoughts and decided not to. She knew it could be positively heard from downstairs and they'd think she was jealous (_Jealous, _Akane snorted. _Who would be jealous of a pervert and a Chinese bimbo making out over dumplings and ramen?_). Instead, she opened her drawer, pulled out a book, and tried to read.

"The Wonders of Biology and Chemistry," she read uninterestedly.

My life isn't exactly hopeless, is it?

* * *

Akane twisted, turned, and shook her head in terror. Her blankets had fallen off her bed and her hands had nothing to get hold of, so she desperately flailing her arms about. Panicked moans escaped her throat, yet nobody was there to hear her cries as the horrible nightmare ran through her head.

"Akane!"

"Ranma?" Akane was glad when she heard him. No matter how she tried to run, she was alone in the inescapable darkness, and hearing Ranma's familiar voice certainly generated a ray of hope somewhere in her dark world. "Ranma! Where on earth are you?" She scuttled blindly until she heard a pair of feet besides hers running towards her direction.

"Akane!"

The voice came from right in front of her, and along with it came a spark of light that enabled her to see those brave, blue eyes of Ranma's. He grabbed her waist and pulled her close. "You okay?" he asked anxiously.

Akane flung her arms around him. "I'm fine," she replied weakly. "Where have you been? I was lost and scared… nobody was there to help me, and–"

"Sssh," he hushed her. "Don't cry… you'll be okay." He patted her head and flashed her a grin. "You're prettier when you're not crying."

But this made Akane cry harder. "Ranma, you care after all…"

Suddenly, there was a flash of blinding white light, and then everything went back to pitch black. Ranma was gone.

_Where am I, the Twilight Zone? Wonderland, perhaps?_

"Ranma!" Akane cried. "Ranma, where are you?"

Then she heard the voice of Shampoo somewhere from up above. "Hentai-girl stay away from Ranma! You not beautiful enough, not like _me_."

"Shut up, Shampoo, this isn't the time for that! And where are you people?"

Even the sight of Shampoo would comfort her. She never liked the Amazon, and she never would – but hellish instances such as this called for crucial decisions.

Before Akane could even hear Shampoo answer, she heard Ukyou. "Ran-chan's mine, Akane. Besides, you don't even know how to cook! You'll _starve_ him to death if you get married!"

Not giving Akane a chance to snap back, Kodachi's voice rang throughout the milieu, preceded and proceeded by her usual deranged laughter. "Ranma-sama belongs to me. I could give him anything he wants! I doubt you can."

The three women's voices echoed through the vast, black space.

Akane ineffectually tried to find where they came from. She was sightless and scared. "Where the hell are you?" she called desperately. Everything was making her dizzy. The voices seemed to mock all the weaknesses she had – her unattractiveness, her atrocious cooking, her lack of wealth – every one of them. She and Ranma could never be together because of those reasons.

"Just QUIT IT!" she screamed into the space. "And Ranma couldn't be yours," she added softly, "because he's my… he's my fiancé."

"Akane," whispered Ranma's voice.

Finally, the voice she wanted to hear! In severe occurrences like this, he wouldn't insult her the way he usually did – he'd… he'd defend her. Right?

_Right?_

"Right," Ranma's voice responded as if he had heard her thinking.

Akane's heart jumped in joy – her hero was coming to her rescue! But what Ranma said afterwards indicated otherwise.

"They're right, Akane. You'll starve me to death with your awful cooking. And in the first place, I wouldn't want to marry an ugly tomboy like you!"

The voices of Ranma, Shampoo, Ukyou and Kodachi all laughed at her from the veil of darkness.

"Ranma," Akane called feebly, "how could you do this?" She began to weep on her knees, her face hot with tears.

The voices around her began to fade, and she felt the floor giving way from below her, letting her fall into a bottomless hole like Alice in Wonderland – just as she suspected.

* * *

It was time to go home. All the students of Furinkan High bade goodbye to each other. Ranma Saotome, however, was looking for someone. Akane Tendo was nowhere to be seen. He'd asked her friends already, and almost the whole class, but they all said they didn't see her after the bell rang for dismissal.

"Darn, where did she go?"

He passed by the gym – maybe another kidnap attempt by Sasuke? – the locker room, the library, and heck, he even peeked in the girls' comfort room. Pretty soon it seemed like he was window shopping in the malls, but the search for Akane was in vain.

Meanwhile, in a dance studio, Akane Tendo was having no trouble at all despite the fact that it was her first lesson. Sure, she had been clumsy with gymnastics before – she chuckled as she recalled the time when St. Hebereke had gone against Furinkan, when the female Ranma had to proxy for her on the day of the competition against Kodachi because she injured herself while rehearsing the night before. But when she was taught her first lesson that day, she took in every word like a hungry learner, and that just made things a whole lot easier for both teacher and student.

And besides, she needed something else to do in her life. Dancing might not be too far from martial arts, so she wasn't exactly abandoning her first sport. Hence, when one of her schoolteachers recommended her to take this class, she willingly agreed.

The dance instructors admired Akane so much; they haven't had a student like her in years. Since Akane was a starter, they first taught her the basic stretching and ballet moves as all beginners were taught. But in the first half hour she seemed to catch on very fast that they had begun teaching her the lessons designated for the fourth tutorial.

"Okay, then just raise your leg up high like that… good! Akane, you are _splendid_! Have you ever taken dance lessons before?"

Akane took the praise humbly. "Thanks Aiko-sensei, but no, this is still my first time," she huffed as she put down her leg and wiped the sweat off her neck. The pink tights she was wearing sure made it hot. "I've been practicing martial arts, if that's what you mean. It's somehow related to dancing, I guess."

"Why, of course it is," the dance instructor concurred as she helped Akane stretch her arms. "Martial arts and dancing both require grace, litheness, stamina and mastery."

"So that explains your flexibility!" remarked a tall boy in black. He had brown hair, damp with sweat from dancing, and blue eyes that shone as he beamed at Akane.

"Akane, this is Jiro of St. Hebereke. Jiro, Akane of Furinkan," Aiko-sensei stated fondly. "Jiro's our top student on the present course, Akane. He may actually help you out on some things… like now. I need to get a glass of water; I'm dehydrated. See you in a few minutes."

Jiro and Akane both smiled back at their sensei as she ambled towards the water fountain.

"Akane Tendo. So you're the new student, huh? I hear you're great."

She chuckled modestly. "I do martial arts, so maybe that's it."

"Aiko-sensei said you needed help. With ballet, I don't think so. But with this… do you mind?" he asked as he held both her hands and led her into the familiar waltz position one always sees in musical romance movies as the leading man and his lady dance in the finale.

"No, go ahead," Akane agreed gladly. The people in dance class were certainly being nice to her. She'd better enjoy her time here before she goes back to the dojo where the nightmare she had last night could seemingly come true any time of the day.

_Stop thinking about it, Akane. You'll draw negative aura towards you. And besides, it was just one of the many bad dreams you've had. Not like this one…_

She held her breath as she waltzed for the very first time. He led her smoothly across the dance floor until both of them were unmindful of the other dancers around them. The music seemed to be audible only to their ears as their eyes were locked in one steady gaze. Aiko-sensei observed them closely, a bright idea taking shape inside her head.

_I might just get used to this_, Akane thought as Jiro winked at her after they did a classic twirl.

* * *

"Tadaima," Akane called as she got off her shoes. She went to the dining room and hurriedly sat down to eat. All that dancing definitely made her hungry.

"Where have you been?" Kasumi asked worriedly as she poured tea into the youngest Tendo's cup.

"I… uh… did something. I'm sorry if I didn't tell you I was going to be late," she murmured, looking around. "Where's Ranma?"

"He went looking for you. He was very worried, Akane, and so were we," said Soun.

"Sorry, Dad," Akane apologized as she started eating Kasumi's famous chicken curry.

_Ranma was worried about me? That's… different._

"Has he eaten already?"

"Not yet," answered Nabiki. "You should have waited until dismissal time and told him you weren't coming home early. He was all over the school looking for you like some upset kid who lost a toy. A pretty funny picture, if you ask me."

There was an aggravated yell from the front door. "I couldn't find Akane! I've looked everywh–" He stopped upon entering the dining room.

_Aw, don't tell me she's been here all along…_

"Hello, Ranma," Akane greeted more amusedly than intended, especially after hearing from Nabiki what Ranma had been doing in school when she had left.

Ranma was stunned. A few seconds later opened his mouth to say something, but closed it even before his voice was heard. After a while, he took a deep breath, and then his brow furrowed. _"Where on earth have you been?"_

"I was… out doing something," she replied, suppressing the fit of giggles trying to escape her mouth. Nabiki was right – everything was just funny, despite the fact that everybody was worried. She was sorry about that, but she couldn't help it.

And then Ranma started yapping.

"I've looked all over for you! Why dya leave all of a sudden when it was time to go home? Something bad could have happened to you, _baka_!"

The smiled on Akane's mouth disappeared because of what Ranma had said. "Baka? Now wait just a second, I didn't do anything wrong!"

"You went away without telling anybody and something could have happened to you, _that's_ what's wrong!"

"You don't have to shout, Ranma!"

"I ain't shouting!"

"Yes, you are! Don't!"

"I'm not!"

"YEAH?" Akane stood up from her place and started leaving the dining room. "Well, shout or no shout, shout until your lungs flap impotently, because starting today I'm going home late! And don't worry, Dad," she assured, glancing at the long-haired man, "I'm not doing anything wrong."

Without a last look, she slid the door shut and marched to her room.

"Kawaiikune!" Ranma grumbled.

"They're really in love with each other, right, Saotome-kun?" Soun muttered over a cup of rice.

The panda's signboard said: "No doubt."

_Oh, when are they going to get along?_

* * *

It had been a month and Akane had always been busy after school. She always arrived home late but just in time for dinner. Ranma had thought of following her but even before the bell rang for dismissal, she was gone. Even Sayuri and Yuka didn't know where she'd been going.

Ranma inquired the teacher if it was considered cutting classes, but the teacher (who happened to be the one who recommended Akane to the dance class) said it was related to school. This made Ranma wonder so much what Akane was doing that it was driving him… well, nuts.

He's been trying to eavesdrop in every conversation Akane had with any animate being. A glance now and a glance then, a few double takes…

_Kami, she's going to make me eat her cookies!_

"Ranma!" Akane called, just as he foretold. It was lunchtime, and all the students were eating inside the classroom their homemade meals.

Ranma approached Akane and asked her what she wanted, though he knew what was coming. He wished she'd picked another day to be nice to him.

"I made them this morning. Want to taste them?"

The feeling of dread overcame Ranma as he saw the white cloth with little chocolate chip cookies on it. He quickly recalled the horrible indigestion he had when he had pretended that her cookies were delicious just to make her feel better – he ate every last bit of the batch and lost the ability to talk for days. He gulped and wanted to gag as he imagined the cookies landing on his sensitive tongue and poisoning his touchy tummy…

"N-not hungry," he stuttered. It wasn't even a sentence, but he didn't care.

"Oh please, come on, just a little bite," Akane implored.

"Oi, Ranma!" called Hiroshi from across the classroom. "Want to see the tarantula Daisuke brought?"

"Sure!" Ranma answered immediately. He hopped over to the guys and tried to lock his eyes on the tarantula, but he couldn't help stealing glances at Akane who seemed to have steam rushing out of her ears.

"Ranma no baka…" Akane muttered, both disappointedly and crossly at the same time. _I was just being nice, you stup–_

"Akane, can we taste your cookies?"

Sayuri and Yuka who were sitting just beside Akane had just finished their lunches and were looking forward to dessert. Obviously, Akane's best girlfriends have never tried any of Akane's cooking before. But maybe they picked the right day to start. Kami was not the punish freak everybody's been accusing him of being.

"Sure you can. I made them for everyone."

Akane beamed as her friends grabbed one each and took a bite. Ranma grimaced when he saw what they did.

_Oh, they're going to be sick…_

But the moment Ranma waited for didn't come. Sayuri's and Yuka's faces didn't turn into a nasty shade of green, or black, heaven forbid it. They just continued munching the rest of Akane's cookies.

"Girl," Yuka said, her mouth stuffed, "theesh are the BESHT."

Sayuri swallowed the sweet goodness down her stomach. "I've tried making these before, but yours are the greatest! All the recipe books I have state the same ingredients though, so can I have your recipe?"

"Oh, sure," Akane said. "Actually, I've been reading this cookbook from Nigella Lawson… an excellent read. I guess it brought out the cook in me. I started with the cookies, of course – it's in the basics – I'll work my way from simple to complex dishes."

"Why'd Ranma turn them down? I know him – if he says he's not hungry, he's waiting for dessert," said Sayuri, munching on another cookie.

Akane sighed. "I guess this time he really isn't hungry."

"Uh-oh. Now that's a falsity. Saotome Ranma is never not hungry."

"Oh, Yuka."

"But he's your fiancé! He's so unappreciative, you know that?"

"No, maybe he's really just full," Akane mumbled. She wasn't facing Ranma so she didn't know that he was observing her. But when she did look at him, he was eating one of Ukyou's okonomiyaki (that he happily chowed down), and it made her very angry.

"Fine food, Ucchan! American pancakes and Japanese okonomiyaki fusion?" she even heard him say.

The pig-tailed guy was totally annoying her.

Before the last afternoon subject ended, Akane had left the classroom without anyone noticing, courtesy of the history teacher who left the students half-asleep and hanging on to consciousness. When the clock showed five minutes before the time, Ranma glanced at Akane's seat but she wasn't there anymore.

_Here we go again._

Ranma asked one of the teachers at dismissal time. And this time, he specifically asked him what Akane was doing after school.

"Miss Tendo? She's been having dance lessons! Furinkan High is sending her as a representative because all schools must have one. They're teaching her ballet and the recital's in less than two weeks! Are you coming, Saotome? Oh, what am I thinking, of course you're coming! Nothing better than a fiancé being up on stage, right?"

"Uh… sure," Ranma managed to say.

That night while eating dinner, Ranma asked Akane what she was into after school even though he already knew. A little asking wouldn't hurt.

"None of your business," she shot. "Gochiso-sama."

Oh, but it did.

Akane left the dining area, went to her room and tried to do her homework, but she couldn't even read the words. She was still mad at Ranma because of what happened during lunch. And when she thought of it more, she realized that there are actually many things she should be mad at Ranma for. She's done good things to him, even when it reached hurting him for his own sake. And he didn't even care. The first part of her nightmare was probably never going to come true.

_Ranma no baka._

_I never wanted all of this to happen in the first place. The fathers just told me I'm going to marry Ranma, and he was against it as well. Grownups. They think everything they do is for everybody's good!_

_Ranma and I didn't get along. We never did. We always shouted at each other and called each other names. I wonder why we could even live under one roof, go to the same school, or walk together. It's always war between us – morning, afternoon, evening._

_This isn't my fault! I've tried to open up to him, but he's just so insensitive and tactless. He's always like that. It's always me reaching out, but he never accepts my hand. I think he knows, though, what I've been trying to do. But maybe he doesn't think much about it – especially with Shampoo, Ukyou, and Kodachi around._

_Sometimes it irritates me so much when I see him flirting with them. He's supposed to be _my_ fiancé! But when I think about it, I realize we never agreed to it in the first place. I think we just agreed for the sake of our fathers and of Anything Goes Martial Arts. So maybe we're just faking it. Yes, we probably are._

_But when I look at the other side, there are things that I like. Our lives are full of… action, considering the fact that we do martial arts, Ranma and Uncle Genma are cursed, we go to a school with countless crazy people in it, and we live in a strange city. Sometimes he saves me from harm, and it oftentimes leads me to the conclusion that he actually likes me. But then I realize, even if it wasn't me, he'd still save the person in danger. Like when his kiss was the only thing that could set Shampoo free from that giant cat Mao-Mo-Rin, he agreed to kiss her!_

_We've been friends, I guess. We help each other when one of us needs help. There are times when he does me favors, like buying food when I have something else to do when Kasumi tells me to buy it. I remember him cheering me up with all those comforting words when I felt down. Like up there on that tall tree when I started sprouting hair in my face because of my newfound super strength – only Ranma could have made me climb down._

_I hate to admit it, but I think I fell in love with him in the running. And maybe I was kind of hoping we'd get along together, but he's just too insensitive to be nice, so I fell out of it. Why can't he just try being kind to me?_

When it was late at night, Akane headed to the dojo. She knew she was sacrificing her beauty sleep, if she had any, but her eyes didn't feel like closing and she felt like she had to move. She of course kept in mind that exercising right before sleeping is not advisable, since one would definitely have difficulty falling into slumber, but she didn't care. It was probably the recital jitters.

She took deep breaths and did some stretching. Little did she know, Ranma also went there to practice his stances and spar with the invisible partner, as was his routine every sleepless night. He stopped outside and curiously perched on the window when he saw her.

_What's she up to in the middle of the night dressed in pink tights?_

"Now how am I going to dance without music?" Akane mused. She did some slow dancing while humming to herself. Then she had an idea. She started singing her own music.

Ranma could only stare as he watched Akane dancing as gracefully as a swan in front of him. She hopped, spun many times in one spot, waved her arms softly around, closed her eyes and smiled. He listened to the beautiful voice he's never heard singing before.

"_When I am down, and oh my soul so weary,_" Akane sang as she jumped high and landed on the floor. "_When troubles come, and my heart burdened be_," she hummed, spinning on one spot with only her right foot tiptoeing on the floor. "_Then I am still, and wait here in the silence, until you come and sit a while with me…_" Then after she stood on her left leg, she curled up into a ball and dropped to the floor.

"She's… good," Ranma mused.

_I've always thought of her as rigid when it comes to dancing, like the way she did her gymnastics last time. It's like the Akane I'm seeing now isn't Akane at all!_

Akane finished the whole song and bowed to an invisible audience elegantly. "Thank you, thank you," she said hailed warmly, her face pink but beaming nevertheless.

He saw the floor coming closer and closer to his sight, but before Ranma could realize what was happening to him, he fell right inside the dojo and made a loud thud on the wooden floor.

_Why dya lose your balance? Idiot!_

"Who's there?" Akane called. Her eyes scanned the dojo and stopped right on the spot under the window. "Ranma! What are you doing here?"

Ranma was still massaging his head when he got up. "Couldn't sleep."

"Me too," she said, twisting her neck once. "Are you okay? You've got a… uhm, _bump_." And it was growing faster than bacteria reproduction, too.

"Yeah, yeah. It's nothing. What were you doing a while ago, anyway?"

Uh-oh. His tongue just slipped.

"I was dancing, _obviously_," she chuckled rather derisively. "Recital's in less than two weeks and it's giving me jitters."

"Why didn't you tell anybody about your dance lessons?"

"Who told you I was taking lessons, anyway?" Akane asked curiously, realizing she just gave it away by saying there was a recital, but Ranma seemed to have first hand information nonetheless.

"The teacher told me. Why didn't you tell anybody about it?"

"I wanted to surprise Dad."

"You started voice lessons as well?"

"Why, you heard me singing, didn't you?" asked Akane, smiling. No, she didn't take any voice lessons, but the chores she's done all by herself gave her the opportunity to discover that she had a natural singing ability.

"Yeah," he answered. And that was damn good, he wanted to add. But he put on a smirk instead, which he did mechanically because it's what he has always been doing. "It sounded like a banshee singing."

Akane frowned.

_There he goes again!_

"For all I know, you were looking and listening the whole time, Ranma."

"No, I wasn't. Anyway, good night, I feel like sleeping now." He let out a big yawn from his mouth and left the dojo.

_He walked away as simple as that, like he never realized he's been insulting me the moment he opened his mouth!_

"You want it to be that way, Ranma? That's what you'll get."

* * *

**Author's Notes:** The lyrics of the song Akane sang are of Josh Groban's _You Raise Me Up_. To my avid readers, this chapter is revised – I added some new scenes and altered several dialogues. To the new readers, the first chapter's just the beginning, apparently, so keep on reading. Reviews are always welcome. (",) 


	2. The Plan

**Disclaimer:** Not mine, not yours, but hers. It's a bitter fact of life.

* * *

**Changed Overnight**

**Chapter Two: The Plan**

The following Saturday, Akane went out into the park all by herself to reflect on some things – and with things, she meant a vision she had while daydreaming in class, where everything in her life was going according to her will. She watched the water in the fountain burst out nicely and flow down, sparkling, and took a seat on a bench in front of it. There wasn't much in her mind, though. She planned to think about things but she only found herself uncomprehendingly looking at the water in the fountain.

_So much for that vision_, she thought bitterly. _'My life going according to my will'? I can't even contemplate the things I planned to think of._

The water was flowing smoothly but the rhythm of the current was interrupted by a voice. "Oi, Akane," it called. She turned her head to its direction. It was Ranma.

How he knew where she was, Akane didn't know, but she was determined to keep the promise she made to herself just a few seconds before he showed up. It was _perfect_. She didn't know how it would affect Ranma, but she didn't care – it would make her feel better, at least. She stood up from the bench and started walking.

"Where are you going? Hey, wait for me! I just wanna talk." Ranma followed her and tried to catch up with her smooth strides. The dancing thing was really getting to her, wasn't it?

They reached a road outside the park, the familiar one that they always took on the way and back from school. Ranma hopped on the fence and tagged along. "Where are you going?" he asked again, rather intrigued.

Akane didn't answer him. She just continued ambling forward like she was alone.

_This is not going the way I want it to; he's not supposed to follow me!_

She broke off into a run.

"A-Akane!" Ranma took a big leap so he was running beside her already. He grabbed her wrist, hence she stopped. "What's going on?" he demanded.

She jerked her hand away, but his hold was too strong. She yanked it away again, and this time it began to hurt. Finally, she decided to drag Ranma if he didn't want to let go, but after a few difficult steps, he anchored his feet on the ground to prevent Akane from moving. She baffled the pig-tailed martial artist so much.

_What's the matter with her?_

He saw two beautiful, angry dark brown eyes glaring at him. Wait. _Beautiful?_ Where did that come from?

With Ranma caught unaware, Akane broke free from his grasp and started running again. Ranma followed her at once. Just after seeing Akane making a right turn into an open gate, he knew she was out of her mind.

She went into a private property – the manor owned by the Kunos. Akane was welcomed by a tall guy wearing a blue and black Kendo garb with a wooden bokken in one hand.

"Kuno-sempai!"

"Tendo Akane! The sun doth shine brighter today, for you have finally come to make our perpetual love one. The truth I can see in thy radiant eyes!"

Kuno smiled valiantly as he welcomed Akane with open arms. She stopped running just in front of him, uncertain of having Kuno embracing her. "Ran… Ranma's chasing me…" she gasped. How was she going to pull this off? Ranma could never be fooled with her merely mingling with this person…

Kuno looked behind her and saw Ranma entering the lot.

"Saotome Ranma! Shame on you for–"

Before Kuno could finish his sentence, Akane grabbed his shirt and pulled him close. Kuno was flabbergasted – and even Akane surprised herself when she abruptly kissed him deeply on the lips.

"You'll get more of that if you could stop him from stealing me from you," Akane heard herself saying. Before the frozen Kuno could reply – and she doubt that he could – Akane hurried inside the manor and randomly entered any door she thought could be an exit.

'_You'll get more of that if you could stop him from stealing me from you'? I can't believe I just said that… I even _kissed_ Kuno! And that was only the first step of it – oh, how difficult this is going to be…_

Outside, the upperclassman was still stunned. It wasn't until when he saw Ranma, his stance similar to that of the stunned Kuno, that he regained himself, smiled calmly and brushed his hair. "Saotome Ranma," he started. "Did you see what just happened? My darling Akane cannot contain her feelings for me any longer! Did our love just make you realize that your engagement is finished?"

_No_, Ranma thought furiously. _Because you drugged her, idiot!_

"I ain't in the mood to play your games right now, _Tatchie_. You did something to her, now let her go!"

Of course he could easily trash the guy down, but he knew better than to trespass. These people were rich enough to hire the best lawyer they could find. And besides, he demanded an explanation. Kuno'd better fess up…

Kuno snorted. "It was she who did it. It had dawned upon her that my love was too strong to resist, otherwise she never would have told me to keep her away from a vile character like yourself!"

"Shut up!" Ranma shouted. The 'fess up thing didn't happen, so he lunged at Kuno and beat him up.

_To hell with trespassing and lawyers! I've gotta get Akane outta here!_

Inside the manor, Akane was frantically looking for Kodachi because she knew Kuno couldn't hold Ranma for long.

"Kodachi!" she called.

Where's that lunatic when you needed her? Contrary to the fact the mental patients cannot engage in human interaction, Akane knew she could count on Kodachi Kuno to seal the deal. This was going to be easy, but first she had to find her.

She saw Kodachi crossing her arms a few yards away with a challenging look.

"I need you to do me a favor," Akane said, not imploringly, but rather importunately, as she jogged to her direction and stopped right in front of her.

"Favor? You go between Ranma-sama and me all the time, and you ask me to do you a _favor_? Another thing, woman. You're in my property – without my permission."

"Your brother invited me over," Akane replied stiffly. It was the first thing that came into her mind, what could she say? "And that's why I need you to do this particular _favor_. I need you to go between Ranma and me. Stop him from talking to me, stuff like that. I know it's weird, but I really need your help."

Kodachi frowned. There was definitely something wrong with this woman – besides the fact that she wanted to be kept away from Ranma, didn't she see her doing an unbelievable act to her brother outside?

"I saw you kissing my dearest brother near the gate, and then this! Perhaps you finally realized Ranma-sama is only for me… or is this just a scheme that would keep me away from him in the end?"

"No." Akane wanted to say many other things, but she held herself. "But have we got a deal, though?"

"Oh, you know I'd keep you away from him without you telling me. But what do I get in return?"

"Well, what more do you want? Ranma's yours already."

Kodachi pondered on this for a moment. Sure, there was the Amazon and the Cook, but this girl was her greatest rival. Without her, it was going to be a breeze eliminating the two remaining adversaries.

"It's a deal."

"Akane!" Ranma's voice rang not too far away, just as Akane predicted it would after leaving him with Kuno outside.

"Here he comes!" Akane gasped. "I need to go."

Kodachi pointed to a dark wooden door just a few meters away. "I'll keep the deal in mind, Tendo Akane. And an eye on you, too."

Akane nodded and escaped quickly. This was too easy… but she had to scrub her lips when she got home.

**

* * *

**

"Shampoo, I need to talk to you."

The Amazon put down a bowl of ramen on the table Akane was occupying and sat on the seat opposite her.

"About what?"

"Ranma."

"Airen? We not go through this. Ranma mine."

"I know, I know! I have the same opinion," Akane agreed. She arbitrarily mixed the noodles around the bowl with her chopsticks. "But you know our engagement. We live under the _same roof_, for heaven's sake. All of a sudden, he was just too much for me to handle… and I want to have nothing to do with him anymore."

Shampoo was suspicious. "Why you change suddenly?"

"Who said I changed? I never wanted to be engaged with him from the start."

_Did I?_

A small chunk of beef slipped from the chopsticks and landed on Shampoo's nose. Akane grinned apologetically and flicked it away. The Amazon, however, was not amused.

"You very peculiar, hentai-girl."

Akane sighed. Yes, funny how Ranma could make her do such peculiar things.

"Have you ever had the feeling that you've just got to avoid some people? People who… make you feel insecure, confused, and furious at the same time?"

She looked outside the window beside her with a faraway gaze, almost lazy.

"People like Mousse, if that what you mean," Shampoo snorted. "He never stop what he do, even when I beat him up."

"Yeah, sort of like that," Akane spoke softly, her gaze still locked on the sky outside the window.

_Ranma never stops calling me names, even when I beat him up. We've got something in common after all, Shampoo._

Shampoo snapped her fingers in front of Akane's face, and her pupils retracted.

"I'm sorry," Akane wheezed slightly. For one second, she wondered what she was doing, making deals with Ranma's other fiancées, but in a shorter span of time she realized that this was all for the better.

"So, Shampoo… what have you got to lose, anyway? Keep him away from me – or me from him – and you get all the benefits."

"You just impostor fallen into Spring of Drowned Akane," the Amazon said guardedly, "out to trick me into agree with you. How I know you not bluff?"

"How do you know I _am_? There are times when I'm not actually fond of Ranma, you know. And they happen a lot nowadays."

There was a pause.

"Shampoo do everything to make Ranma mine."

"I'll take that as a yes."

**

* * *

**

"Ukyou, have I got a deal for you."

The cook served Akane her pancake.

"State," she stipulated.

"I know that you and Ranma have gone through a lot since your childhood, and… well, I know that you've loved him ever since."

"It's unusual for you to talk about these matters, Akane. I don't know where this leads, but you seem to be different."

"I don't see anything different. After all, I had no choice but to give in when our fathers engaged us, so I didn't want to be his fiancé in the first place. And things just became… more unbearable than usual, so I need your help."

"Continue," Ukyou motioned. Although she was still one of Ranma's fiancées who made things harder than normal, Akane figured that among the three, she was the most human. She had ears that listened, a brain that processed thoughts, but unlike the other two, she had a heart that understood.

"Well, you know that Ranma and I are always together, technically because we live in the same house. And… there goes the unbearable part."

"What do you mean?"

"I… you know Ranma," she said hurriedly, wanting to skip that part. She didn't exactly feel like pouring her heartaches to Ukyou with all the customers in the room listening. "So I want you to keep us away from each other. I myself will avoid him. And I promise," she added, seeing the chef's eyes reduced into wary slits, "No fun and games. I'm serious."

"One, I love Ran-chan. And two, even if you're all weird and unusual, I don't see anything in this deal that might ruin me. Add the fact that Ranma's got one less fiancé, which is you of course… it's a deal."

**

* * *

**

The day was almost done and Akane Tendo watched the orange sun retreat in the pink skies while she leaned on the steel fence overlooking the lake. She sighed, recalling what she had done that day. It had all been so difficult and different, and she wasn't sure if she wanted to go on.

Plus there was the fact that she had kissed Kuno and ate a huge bowl of ramen and a couple of pancakes. Her stomach began to ache with all three verities.

But she realized she had gone that far. She had to go on.

She heaved a determined sigh.

"Bwee!"

She looked behind her.

"P-chan!" she cried. She scooped the black piglet up and cuddled him in her arms. "I missed you," she said happily, though in a weak tone. Throughout the day, all that she went through was crap. It was gratifying to see anybody familiar, especially ones who comforted her. Yes, he was a piglet, but Akane felt that he understood her more than any human could ever do. And Ranma's always mistreated P-chan… the nerve of him!

Akane faced the already dark sky. "I made three deals today, P-chan. Three… very stupid deals. I guess the plan would be easier – almost done, even – but why am I not happy? Why is staying with Ranma such a pain, but not staying with him is more painful?"

"Bwee! Bweeee!"

"It was so hard carrying this out. You know what I did, P-chan? I talked to the lunatic, the barbarian, and… well, the chef. Oh, and…" she paused, hesitating to continue. A moment later, she scowled. "I kissed Kuno," she whispered as if kissing Kuno was a mortal sin she committed that she didn't want anybody to know.

"BWEE!"

"Yes, I did – on the lips! And if Ranma wasn't chasing me, I couldn't have told him to stop Ranma from stealing me from him. He would have been hugging me and kissing me all over especially when he thought I loved him… Geez, that was _hell_ for a moment!"

P-chan was almost in tears. Akane saw him.

"Aw, don't worry, P-chan. I'll be okay."

She kissed his snout, unaware that her pet has gone pink.

"I just want to make Ranma get what he deserves. No pain, no gain, right? Maybe in the end, I can get over the whole Ranma thing and feel real gratification without him."

P-chan let out a fit of snorts. To Akane, they seemed a bit bothered. Enraged, even.

_Ranma,_ Ryouga thought heatedly, _you are going to pay for what you've made her do!_

The streetlights flashed on and Akane, with P-chan in her arms, started walking home in the cold night breeze.

"Tadaima," Akane greeted as she arrived home. A few moments later, she was told that Ranma hasn't come home yet and nobody knew where he went. But just before everyone finished their meals, Ranma showed up, looking very exhausted.

"Where've you been, boy?" Genma asked his son just before finishing a pickle.

"I was… looking for someone," Ranma replied, not taking his eyes off Akane as he sat down beside her and started getting rice. "Again."

Akane's heart started beating fast as she felt his eyes on her.

_Don't turn back now, Akane_, she told herself. _You've gone a long way!_

Before she could even say the lines she rehearsed while walking home, P-chan jumped out of her arms and attacked Ranma. Ranma began shouting and getting hold of P-chan while the piglet squealed in anger.

"You little–"

"Ranma!" Akane began, but she restrained herself. She shouldn't care about him anymore. "Gochiso-sama," she murmured hastily. Then she went to her room.

_Take care, P-chan. You can handle that stupid boy._

She started to undress. When she faced the mirror, she was wearing only her undergarments. Sitting down on the chair, she started combing her hair and looking into her own brown eyes.

"Look, Akane," she told herself. "No matter what, you shouldn't turn back. You made deals with Kodachi, Shampoo and Ukyou. _You kissed Tatewaki Kuno_. And when the time comes, you'll be kissing a lot more guys. I know, right? That's a lot of work for one insensible fiancé, but in the running you may find the right guy for you. And, you know. Actually stop Ranma from calling you names. This lesson's gotta be taught to the naughty kid."

_If you want to be satisfied, let your conscience be your guide. If you want to be satisfied, let your conscience be your guide. If you want to be satisfied, let your conscience be your guide…_

Suddenly, the door burst open and in stumbled Ranma fighting off P-chan, the small but powerful black piglet scratching and biting him. They surprised Akane that she didn't have time to react when she stood up, turned around and saw them.

They realized her presence and paused in the middle of their fight. Blood gushed out of P-chan's nose like the Niagara Falls, and Ranma… well, Ranma cowered as he always did when he saw that expression of Akane's, which meant she was about to scream…

"HENTAIII!"

She threw her comb she was grooming her hair with and it hit Ranma right on his forehead. He stumbled out of the door and Akane closed it quickly.

"Ranma no hentai…" she gasped with fury. She saw P-chan on the floor, unconscious, his nose bleeding.

Seeing him, Akane's fury melted. "Poor baby," she mumbled as she laid him on her bed and sat beside him. "Don't worry, P-chan, he won't hurt you anymore. You shouldn't have attacked him, but I'm glad you did. I was all tongue-tied back there, even though you know how many times I repeated my lines on the way home. It's really difficult. I'm glad you're here."

She smiled at her pet's figure that began to stir slowly. She got hold of some tissue and wiped P-chan's bloody nose with it. Soon, he regained consciousness.

Akane put on her pajamas from the closet and lay on the bed. She reached for P-chan, set him on her flat stomach, and faced the ceiling.

"The plan is not actually foolproof, but it's going on smoothly. Tatewaki and Kodachi Kuno, Shampoo, Ukyou – I've already convinced the four of them and they believed me. Now the next person is… oh, no."

"Bwee?"

"Ryouga," she murmured diffidently.

P-chan blinked.

"But P-chan," said Akane, sitting up on her elbow and looking into her pet piglet's dark eyes, "it's so hard getting Ryouga into all of this. You know, I wish he's not coming home until this is done. He doesn't have to be involved, but if he's here… he's got to be. It's the only way this is going to work – if everybody went along according to plan."

"Bwee!"

"I know… he's my friend. And a good one, at that. I don't want to hurt his feelings, nobody would."

"Bwee," P-chan answered, snuggling on the spot between Akane's neck and right shoulder.

"_Kami-sama_, help me," she sighed, putting her hands over her eyes.

_Ranma_, Ryouga thought angrily. _What have you done to Akane? You're making her do things against her will! I will never forgive you for this… I'll kill you!_

* * *

A week later, Ryouga arrived at Furinkan and challenged Ranma to a life or death battle. The students flocked around the two fighters, with rumors like Ranma got Akane pregnant circling the milieu.

"What now, Lost Boy? Learned a new technique lately?" Ranma asked amusedly.

"No – you did something to Akane, and I won't forgive you for that!" he shouted, lunging at Ranma and attacking him.

"What's wrong with you?" Ranma demanded as he dodged Ryouga's attacks.

"_Bakusai Tenketsu_!" Ryouga yelled, missing Ranma by an inch and demolishing the stone pavement instead.

"Ryouga!" Ranma jumped away. Ryouga lunged at him again, so he had to fight, too. "_Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken!_"

"She doesn't deserve you, Ranma!" Ryouga answered intensely as he blocked Ranma's godly quick punches. "Do you know what you did to her?"

All the students were watching – and listening – as the two fought and shouted. Maybe Ranma _did_ get Akane pregnant.

"I chased her all the way to Kuno's mansion," Ranma replied lamely, evading a series of punches from his opponent. "Really! What?"

"You made her do things she didn't want to do! Go to hell!" He threw a final punch that hit Ranma hard on the cheek.

"Akane!" Sayuri called.

Akane was already going down the stairs and preparing to go home when she saw that everyone was watching – heaven help them all – Ranma and Ryouga's fight.

"Akane, they're fighting because of you!"

"They are?" she asked amazedly, forgetting the plan she cooked up a few days ago and worry taking over its place. She hurried to the field of battle and made her way through the thick circle of students surrounding the fight.

"Saotome just got hit!"

"Is he out cold?"

"No, he's standing up!"

When Akane finally reached the scene, she popped into the circle of students and everyone's eyes were upon her.

"Tendo Akane!" the students exclaimed in ad lib.

Hearing that Akane was there, Ranma turned around and gripped her arm. "Akane! What the heck is Ryouga talking about?"

Before Akane could answer, which she just remembered she shouldn't, Ryouga interrupted and grabbed Ranma's hand away from Akane.

"Don't you _dare_ talk to her!"

He started attacking again. Akane could only watch as they fought, wondering what happened to Ryouga. Of course, Ranma's done many atrocious things to poor Ryouga before, but she has never seen Ryouga _this_ angry.

"Tendo Akane!"

Why was it always the wrong time when this guy showed up?

Akane turned around. "Kuno-sempai?"

Right. The voice could belong to no other.

"Tendo Akane, I know thou could not bear a minute without me! This is the moment we make known to this world my ceaseless adoration with thee, and of course, " he added, "the other way around!"

He came running to her with open arms when Ranma, dropping from the sky, kicked his head. Kuno fell cataleptic right at Akane's feet.

For a second, she was overly thankful that Ranma stopped Kuno from setting his hands on her, but she the plan she had to carry out kept popping into her head like a mosquito that didn't seem to quit biting.

She frowned at Ranma and kneeled beside Kuno. "Are you okay?"

In normal situations, Akane would have left his body for good, but this was part of the plan. And somewhere behind her mind, she was worried for the wellbeing of this stubborn guy. He always ended up unconscious, no matter what, that she wondered if he was never this crazy to begin with, and that it was all those bumps on his head that deranged him.

Hearing Akane's voice, Kuno's eyes flashed open. He sat up in a split second, holding both of the girl's hands.

Akane looked around.

_Oh no, not in front of everybody!_

Ranma saw the Akane's uneasy look and effortlessly sensed her unwillingness towards Kuno, so he jabbed the upperclassman's head with his elbow, leaving him unconscious for good.

"You let go of her!"

Akane sighed in relief and had the feeling Ranma heard it.

"Why did you do that to him?" she scolded Ranma. A nearby basketball player in the crowd surrounding them offered Akane a hand, so she accepted it and helped herself up.

"Come on, you clearly didn't want him holding you!" Ranma explained as Akane thanked the tall buffoon drooling over her.

A second later, Ryouga fell from the sky and fell right on top of the basketball player's head.

_Hah!_ Ranma jeered.

The sneering expression on Ranma's face annoyed Akane.

"You've done a lot of damage, Ranma. I don't see anything funny with knocking a poor upperclassman cold!"

"Look, whatever Kuno did to you that time when you…" Ranma paused, choosing his words carefully, avoiding the kiss verb. "When you did that _thing_ you did to him… it's over. You have control over your mind right now. And weren't you the one who always hit him whenever he went too far?"

"That was before. Things change. And keep that in mind, will you?" She turned around and asked the students to make way, and they willingly made it. An angry Akane Tendo was not safe to oppose.

"Oi, Akane!" Ranma called. He began making his way outside the crowd.

"We aren't through yet, Saotome!" Ryouga's voice rang angrily.

"We'll do this later, Ryouga. I have _things_ to do!"

Akane was already outside the school vicinity, so he jumped over the walls of the school (knowing too that Ryouga would get lost sooner if the Lost Boy didn't know which way his opponent went) and hurried to catch Akane. She hadn't gone far, but when she heard the sound of running behind her, she started dashing.

"Akane, wait!"

Ranma had always been faster than Akane. He jumped in front of her and grabbed her arm. "_Baka_! Why have you become like this? _What's happening to you?_"

"What's happening to me, Ranma?"

She tried to break free of his grasp but it was too strong.

"You're asking _me_ what's happening? Oh, I have no idea!" she scorned angrily, trying again to no avail to shake her hand free from his grasp. "I'm so certain it isn't you, Ranma, don't worry! And let go of me!"

"No. I'm not letting go unless you tell me what's going on! It's so confusing the way you're acting – you ain't the Akane I know!"

Surprisingly, Akane laughed.

"Of course I'm _not_! I don't think you know anything about me at all. Even before, you didn't – and it's been almost year since I've known you! I guess it wouldn't make a difference if you called me Akane, or even…" she stopped. She thought of saying everything on the list, but she felt her voice stuttering and thought better. "Or even whatever names you'd like to call me. Hah, like I even care. Like _you_ even care! You never did – you wouldn't say anything I wanted you to say if your life depended on it! You're simply the president, aren't you? An insensitive, cynical–"

"And what do you want me to say?" Ranma interrupted. His grip, strong as ever, pulled Akane closer to him. His gaze bore deep into her eyes, unmasking Akane's fear and bitterness. "Tell me. I'll say it, just for you to stop this foolishness!"

_Tell me you love me. Say those very words, Ranma,_ she found herself thinking.

However, she knew better than to say that it was what she wanted Ranma to say.

"Let go of me," she muttered under her breath, wanting to cry, which was enough for Ranma to hear.

"No," Ranma's voice said firmly, right before it softened with his expression. "I miss you Akane, so much. You've always been there at home, I know, but… where did the girl I knew go? The cute girl who liked to make delicious food for everyone, the girl who was so good in martial arts, my favorite sparring partner, the girl who was smart and too kind to teach me when I didn't understand the lessons in school, the girl who always fought on my side, the girl who not just once had saved my life?"

Akane tried to suppress the tears building up in her eyes.

"Where did that girl go?" Ranma pleadingly asked again.

And Akane let it all out.

Just like butter under the sun, Ranma's grip loosened as Akane's expression turned into that like a child's. She sobbed the moment she buried her face into his chest.

"Ranma!" she cried. "I'm sorry for everything… I just… just…"

She sobbed so hard and her tears began to dampen his red Chinese shirt, but he didn't mind. In fact, he was too glad that Akane was okay – and back – that he put his arms around her and hushed her as if she was a baby.

"Sssh… come on. You're a strong girl, you know better than to cry out here in the middle of the street."

But this made Akane cry more, which did not in the least startle Ranma, because he just wanted her to let everything out. Of course, Akane knew most of the things he said were just something to make her feel better even if they were not true, like how she made 'delicious food' and how she was always his 'favorite sparring partner'. But they _did_ make her feel better. Even though Ranma didn't say he loved her, those comforting things were bliss.

Ranma reached into his pocket and produced some tissue, pulled her head gently from his shirt and offered it to her.

"Don't look at me," Akane sniffed, accepting his tissue. "I look ugly; I'm all wet and sore." She wiped her tears dry.

"Nah, you look cute no matter what."

With that simple remark that didn't seem right for the usual Ranma to say – yet it seemed very right for the other Ranma who was revealing himself inside the same body – came a blazing smile from Akane that was as bright as the sun. The lights of Las Vegas would be switched off in shame if the world saw this!

It surprised Ranma, seeing that her smile was for him and none other. She looked so beautiful, perfect and innocent that he couldn't help smiling too, albeit rather sheepishly, though he didn't intend it.

"Come on, let's go to the ice cream parlor," Ranma invited cheerfully.

"I didn't bring much money today," Akane said. She was used to paying after the female Ranma had finished off the whole menu.

"Don't be such a kill. I'm paying. Now come on."

Ranma didn't want to be too sweet all of a sudden, but he did take her hand and he held it all the way to the ice cream parlor. He ordered two triple fudge sundaes for the both of them. And this time, he was glad he wasn't a girl.

* * *

"P-chan, the most wonderful thing happened to me today!" Akane gushed happily as she lay down on her bed that night.

"Bwee?" P-chan was confused, because he thought, with what happened, she would be pained. It was the perfect opportunity for P-chan – or perhaps Ryouga – to offer his company.

"Ranma wasn't so bad, after all."

"Bwee!"

Akane giggled. "I know, I know. I've been telling you how I hated him and all… but this afternoon he told me I was cute. It sent little shivers up my spine that felt nice. I may have to abandon the plan now!"

She sighed. Then she faced P-chan. "You think he likes me?"

P-chan shook his head furiously.

"No? Yeah, something tells me what he just did was just momentary because he wanted me to stop what I was doing. He'd go back to his usual cynical self, I predict, but I have to tell you – back there I wished everything was just like that forever between the two of us. P-chan," Akane stopped, a smile spreading across her face. "Do you think I'm in love?"

"Bweeee!"

P-chan couldn't take it. Rather, Ryouga couldn't. He was madly in love with Akane, and she was in love with his enemy Ranma who totally didn't deserve her! The black piglet squealed violently. He stormed out of her open window.

"P-chan!"

Akane wondered if what she was doing was wrong. P-chan didn't like the sound of it – what if it was a sign from Kami-sama that she shouldn't fall in love with Ranma?

"Maybe… P-chan's right," Akane mused as she got up from her bed, went to the window and looked at the dark night sky. The complete silence helped her make up her mind.

She was going to fall in love – someday – but it wouldn't be Ranma, for her own sake. He was just going to have to be…

_A friend._


	3. New Love Affair

**Disclaimer:** Not mine, not yours, but hers.

* * *

**Changed Overnight**

**Chapter Three: New Love Affair**

"Oh my," said Kasumi. "What happened to him?"

Ranma supported Ryouga's unconscious body as he entered the house. He didn't want to say what happened, not with everybody, especially Akane, there.

"He got in a fight again, and apparently he lost," he answered shortly.

Ryouga was very bruised; his body was bloody, scratches were all over his face, his clothes had ubiquitous rips. He was laid in a room where Kasumi cleaned his wounds. Akane and Ranma knelt down beside his body.

"Who could do such a thing?" Akane asked as she handed Kasumi the alcohol.

Ranma couldn't answer. What happened actually included her.

He was heading back home after running some errands for Kasumi when he saw Ryouga in an unoccupied lot filled with rubble, having destroyed a recently vacated house with his Bakusai Tenketsu. Ryouga was crying in fury. When he saw Ranma, he lunged at him but collapsed even before reaching his rival.

"Ryouga! _Daijobu_? What're you doing here?" Ranma knelt down and tried to help Ryouga up.

"…you dare… not w-worthy…" Ryouga stammered incoherently. He struggled to punch Ranma's face but he couldn't even lift a finger anymore – he was punching and destroying the building since last night and had clearly lost all his strength. His body was covered in injuries and blood.

"What the heck are you talking about?"

"Akane… loves y-you…" Ryouga stuttered miserably.

"Oi, get a hold of yourself!"

"…t-told me… in love with you… you didn't even c-care about her feelings… aagh!"

Ryouga grimaced as Ranma had touched a particularly deep wound on his shoulder. Ranma quickly withdrew his hand, supported Ryouga's head instead, and felt warm blood drenching his skin. His face was wet with tears and blood – nobody could have recognized him as Ryouga anymore.

"What are you saying?" Ranma asked, trying his best to be gentle but his voice implicating increasing anxiousness. He was confused – Ryouga talked disjointedly and couldn't be understood – but he felt more than just pity towards the Lost Boy, and that's why he refrained from shouting.

Just when Ranma thought that Ryouga was drifting into unconsciousness, a bloody hand grabbed his shirt.

"Ranma, don't y-you break her heart… I-I'm sure you will… I need to change her m-mind about you or she'll end up–"

And then he fainted.

Ranma could never tell anybody that.

"Akane-chan, I need to cook dinner now," proclaimed Kasumi. "Please continue treating his wounds."

When Kasumi left the the room, Akane sighed. "Who could do such a thing to him? Poor Ryouga," she mumbled as she treated alcohol on the scratches of his face.

Akane reached across Ranma for some cotton, her hand barely sweeping his knees. He was certain that he caught the scent of oranges and strawberries for a few seconds…

"Who do you think could have done this, Ranma?" asked Akane as she began pouring the antiseptic on the cotton ball she was holding.

"I don't know," Ranma replied hastily as his cheeks flushed, remembering what Ryouga had said about Akane being in love with him.

_Why am I the one blushing? Ranma you idiot, stop it!_

"Help him up, Ranma, we need to remove his shirt."

Ranma pulled Ryouga to sit up while Akane removed his yellow shirt. Ranma put Ryouga down again after the short process. "Kami-sama," Akane gasped, seeing Ryouga's very bruised, battered body. She got the moist towel and wiped his injured body.

**

* * *

**

Later that night when everybody was asleep, Akane went to the kitchen and helped herself to a glass of water. She went to the room where Ryouga was resting to see if he was okay. The sight of his bruised body kept her worrying so much that she couldn't sleep. It was a nightmare worse than the one she's been having those past nights, really.

With only the light of a dim lamp in the room, the environment that welcomed her wasn't too happy.

Akane knelt down and held Ryouga's hand, covered with bandages, just a while ago bloody and cut and unbearable to see. She pulled down slightly the blanket that covered his shirtless, battered body, and reapplied medicine to the wounds. She noticed that Ryouga was having difficulty breathing and felt his forehead. It was as hot as fire.

"Ryouga-kun!"

He had a very high fever, and Akane wanted it to stop. Enough had already happened to him.

_Okay, lemme see. Fever… oh yes, paracetamol!_

Ryouga stirred and slowly opened his eyes.

A while ago, he was dreaming of being in the Jusenkyo springs once again; at that time he was right in front of the Spring of Drowned Man. When he saw Akane, he convinced himself that he had awakened into another dream.

Sometimes, people acquire answers to their questions in their dreams. Maybe his questions would be answered now…

"Akane-san, w-why did you let Ranma–"

"Sssh…" she hushed her patient. "You have very high fever. I'll go get something. Wait here."

In less than a minute Akane was back with warm water and a towel in a basin. "I can't find any paracetamol, I'm sorry! I hope this will do."

She slowly removed his headscarf. It seemed so familiar; she just can't put her finger on it, but she ignored it anyway. She swept the hair across his forehead and carefully placed the towel on him.

Ryouga had almost drifted off to sleep, but he was still faintly aware that Akane was there. He tried to keep his eyes open, but his eyelids seemed to weight a couple of tons.

"Oh, Ryouga…"

Akane wondered what really happened to Ryouga. Was he being chased by thugs? Did he have something that they wanted? Her eyes landed on Ryouga's bag with the red umbrella. She opened it and saw nothing important – clothes, kettles, instant noodles, a knife, and a rubber duck.

And then she saw letters and randomly read one of them. It didn't take long until she realized it was a letter she knew – because she wrote it.

The letter she was holding was the one she gave to the black-and-white ninja dog as a reply to the person who sent her a love letter – the love letter with those sweet and heart-warming words. Her reply was that she understood completely how he felt, but she couldn't accept his love because she already loved someone else.

_Ryouga was the one who wrote me all those letters? _

A few minutes later, after having recollected her moments with Ryouga in the past where he had acted very nervous and uncanny most of the time, Akane was still dumbfounded.

Simply, it meant that he loved her with all his being just as he described deeply in his letters! She read the others and found that they were all about his love for her, telling her where he was in Japan or the world in his training to defeat Ranma, unsent they may be.

_Kami-sama…_

She blushed and looked at Ryouga.

Ryouga, the guy who challenged Ranma in Furinkan High. Ryouga, the guy who was one of the reasons her long hair was cut short. Ryouga, the naive, kind, brave, caring guy. Ryouga, the guy who, she just discovered, loved her.

She put the letters back into the bag and didn't know what to do.

Ryouga had a dream again – what happened that night when he was P-chan and Akane said those words that broke his heart and all of him.

"Akane-san… why Ranma?" he groaned in his sleep, unaware that Akane was there and listening intently. "He's unworthy… he doesn't care about you and he'll break your heart. I love you Akane… I will forever…"

Akane blushed even more upon hearing what he just said. "Ryouga-kun…" It was as if he was in a very different light now. He didn't look like the naive boy at all. He was a man, as she saw his bruised but well-defined body, a man who knew how to love. How could she have been blind all this time? Ryouga was so nice and clearly gave her attention like nobody else did.

_I was just thinking of Ranma all those times, that's how_, she thought bitterly.

Ryouga blinked and saw Akane. He blinked again. Akane.

"Akane-san, please get out of my dream," he begged. "I want to forget you, but I can't. I just wish you the best with Ranma… I hope that when he breaks your heart you'll be able to come though, and I promise I'll be there for you…"

He broke off with a cough.

Tears fell from Akane's eyes and dropped on the floor. She touched Ryouga's face gently. "I wish this was a dream, Ryouga. But it isn't. I'm bound to Ranma because of our parents' will! I wish I hadn't been blind to your feelings all this time…"

"This… this isn't a dream?"

"No, silly," she said, trying to smile.

Ryouga realized it and his eyes grew wide open. He blushed furiously and wanted to escape from this room of embarrassment, but even before he could sit up his body ached with pain and he grimaced.

"Ryouga-kun!" Akane exclaimed. She tried to calm him down and held his warm arm.

Ryouga gazed at her and was breathing hard. What has he done? He said all those things in his sleep and she completely heard him! What was she going to think? How could he have been stupid?

"Akane-san, all those things, I was just dreaming… I-I didn't know…"

"I found my letter in your bag."

Ryouga had many letters in his bag, all of them addressed to Akane. But she said MY letter, so it could only mean that she had read the reply she sent him as an answer to the love letter written by the anonymous sender.

"Akane-san, sorry, I…" His fever rose as every inch of his body joined his startled state. He felt rigid and helpless.

"Sssh," Akane hushed, bringing her finger to his lips. She neared her face to his until their noses were just a few inches away, and she put her hand on his warm chest. "Ryouga, I don't know why you've been hiding things from me all this time…"

Ryouga gazed into her eyes – they were sad. But he couldn't take the feeling of her hand on his chest and her face so near. He swore he could've fainted, but he didn't. He couldn't miss it. He was blushing profusely, his eyes wide open with disbelief that this was happening.

"I'm sorry I've been blind, Ryouga," Akane continued. "My thoughts about Ranma have completely blinded me. I'm sorry…"

"Akane-san… is this for real?"

"Yes, for real." Akane leaned towards him for a kiss.

A huge part of Ryouga expected all of it to disappear in a big white whirlpool, just like his countless dreams about Akane, which all ended with him pulling her close for a kiss, and then… everything just disappeared.

But this time, it happened.

A kiss of love.

Neither Akane nor Ryouga has experienced it before. Akane had kissed Kuno because she had to. But she kissed Ryouga because she _wanted_ to. Clearly, she didn't realize it would be this enchanting and heavenly. It was like all the other things in the world have disappeared and all that was left were the two of them.

Ryouga's mind was clouded with happiness; he was overjoyed. At last, the dream he had been dreaming of for many nights has come true – and it was no illusion! The girl he loved more than anything else was in his reach, willingly conforming to him.

Akane withdrew her lips from his and they gazed at each other's eyes.

"Akane-san," Ryouga said, raising his bandaged hand with all his strength to touch her face. "I-I don't know how this a-all happened, but I want you to know–"

"Sssh," Akane hushed him again, sensing that he was still having difficulty breathing. "All that matters now," she whispered, taking his bandaged hand, "is that we're together."

She kissed him again on the lips, and this time Ryouga had been dawned that it was really true.

**

* * *

**

"Ohayou, Akane," greeted Kasumi.

"Ohayou," said Akane. She was ready for school; she just needed to eat breakfast and she'd be off with Ranma. She turned to a miraculously recovered Ryouga with a smile. "Ohayou, Ryouga-kun."

By this time Ryouga was still thinking so much about his dream coming true since last night that he was still shy. "Ohayou, Akane-san," he answered, blushing, looking down on the table and unknowingly turning his chopsticks into bits and pieces.

Ranma watched them with curiosity, his eyes peeking above the bowl he was emptying. Soun was too busy with his newspaper; Happosai and Genma were busy chowing down their food; but Kasumi and Nabiki noticed. They didn't say anything about it, though.

A few lackluster moments later, Akane and Ranma were on their way to school.

"So Ranma, why didn't you tell me?" Akane began suddenly.

"Didn't tell you what?"

"Didn't tell me who sent that anonymous love letter the ninja dog gave me."

Uh-oh, did she find out?

"Well, who sent it?" Ranma asked in his most innocent voice.

Akane didn't answer. She just kept on walking, and the silence made Ranma feel weird.

"Oi, speak up. You're scaring me."

"Ranma, are you okay with our engagement?"

It surprised him, that's for sure. That one came out of nowhere!

"I know our parents just forced that thing on us. But you know, if there really is nothing between us, why don't we just break the engagement? I mean, you were always complaining before. If the engagement's broken, we'll be free, right? "

Ranma was shocked, hearing Akane say those words. It was like she was easy about it, like it was no big deal. "Well, you…"

"If it's up to me I'd like to break the engagement," she said plainly. Then she smiled. "Surely, you haven't fallen in love with me."

Ranma blushed. "W-with a macho chick like you? Of course not!"

"Well, it's settled then. I'm telling our dads."

After another moment of steady tip-tapping sounds of their shoes, Ranma spoke up. "Why this all of a sudden? You're… strange."

"I've fallen in love again – with someone else – so you don't need to worry about us anymore. No more connection. Well, we could still be friends, but really. If you don't want it that way, it's okay."

Ranma didn't know what to say. He didn't want to say anything. It wasn't too becoming of Akane to open up conversations regarding the whole engagement topic. There was something _seriously_ wrong going on.

In school, Ranma was wondering frantically why Akane was acting the way she did that morning. She was – or maybe it was Ranma's imagination? – happier. She was sincerely willing to chat with Kuno and everybody else.

_What the heck is happening to her?_

Gosunkugi approached Ranma in his ever so creepy way and tapped the latter's shoulder. "Ranma, why is Akane very nice today? Have you finally broken your engagement?"

Ranma winced at what Gosunkugi said. "Oi, don't creep on me like that!"

Gosunkugi smiled. "Every guy has been giving her gifts and flowers because she doesn't beat them up. It's like she's not Akane anymore; she's nicer and gentler and feminine. How did that happen, I'm wondering?"

"I-I don't know! Why ask me?"

"You're supposed to be her fiancé… but never mind. I'll just go join Akane, if I can get through the crowd of boys around her…"

**

* * *

**

When it was time to go home from school, Akane couldn't walk in a straight line because of all the gifts and flowers she was bringing. She couldn't see where she was going in the first place.

"Aren't you going to help me?" she asked Ranma nicely.

"Uh… yeah," Ranma answered awkwardly. He carried most of the presents. Moreover, he never had the time to ask questions that morning, so he decided it was time to ask the question that baffled him so much the whole day.

"Akane, what's happening to you?"

She didn't seem to take it seriously and answered honestly. "Well, nothing, really."

And then she started singing a song.

"_There's gotta be more to life_

_Than chasing down every temporary high to satisfy me_

'_Cause the more that I'm trippin' up thinking_

_There must be more to life _

_Well it's life, but I'm sure_

_There's gotta be more…"_

Akane had sung it so beautifully that Ranma was speechless for a moment while they walked.

_What does that have to do with her?_

"Akane," Ranma started after a long silence. "Why dya sing that song?"

She didn't answer. They continued walking until she led them both inside the park and sat on a bench under a tree. Ranma followed her and sat down, laying the gifts and flowers beside him.

Akane smiled. "You still don't get it, do you?"

She looked at the sky, and Ranma couldn't miss that scene because she looked so beautiful.

"To be honest Ranma," she started, "when you came into my life, I was somehow happy to have a fiancé."

Ranma was listening so intently that he could hear her sigh after each sentence.

"You know me. I've always been labeled the tomboy since childhood, even with the Furinkan High Hentai Horde trailing me everyday. Sure, you remember me being mad when I was introduced to you as your fiancé," she paused and chuckled, "but – okay, I'm telling you the whole truth now – deep inside, I felt… well, thankful."

"Thankful?"

"Yeah, thankful," Akane repeated, glad that Ranma was listening. "I mean, if your dad's a friend of my dad, then you had to be decent – which was the opposite of what you really are, when I found out."

"So I guess you were disappointed, huh?" Ranma asked absentmindedly.

He thought he had enough girls to live with, which was one of the things men wish for the most, but the fact that Akane was dissatisfied with him degraded him below zero.

Akane smiled. "Of course not, silly. You turning out to be the opposite of what I had expected totally made things unpredictable. I learned another side of life I never would have experienced if you didn't enter mine. My life was almost boring before I met you, what with your comical fight-to-death enemies who come for you because you did something terrible to them in the past."

"You're saying… you liked the engagement?" Ranma asked coyly.

"I'm saying I'm _glad_ you came into my life," a pleased Akane replied.

"W-what about the engagement?" Ranma muttered, kicking himself mentally for stuttering at a time like this. His Adam's apple was bobbing inside his throat.

"I was really hoping it would work out, but it didn't – and it still doesn't," Akane answered curtly. Then she took her eyes away from the sky to face him, much to his surprise, that he was forced to look away or she could've seen him blush right in front of her any moment. "But I did try my best though," she added hastily. "I didn't want you or anybody to think I wasn't human and I couldn't adjust. I tried my best to be a good fiancé to you."

Now that made Ranma guilty. She tried her best. And what did he do? He was so inconsiderate, and he didn't even give her half of what she deserved in turn.

"I guess we aren't really for each other. And I couldn't limit myself to a relationship that isn't working, so if it's for the better… why don't we just stop this?"

Ranma's heart skipped a beat. He couldn't believe what Akane had just said! To make it worse, she said some more things he never thought could hurt him.

"I did appreciate what you said to me last week, about me being your favorite sparring partner, that I cook well, that I'm cute and all. But I know you were only saying it to stop me from crying – and thanks. You quite had me there," she said with a smile.

Now that meant she _didn't_ realize how important she was to him.

"Wait, don't say another word," Ranma interrupted. This was just a silly nightmare, he… he's _gotta_ do something to stop it. "What the heck has gotten into you?"

For a while, Akane was surprised. "Why, what's the matter? I thought you'd like the idea. You never really liked this engagement thing, right?"

"No. Y-yes! No… I don't know! But why? Why are you acting like this all of a sudden? Yeah, you told me you've fallen in love again with someone else. But you… you…"

Akane didn't expect him to act that way. She predicted him to smirk and say he was glad the engagement would be broken.

"Look, I know this came all too sudden, that's why you're acting like this. But everything will be back to normal – normal like before we were engaged. That's what you want, right? Come on, Ranma, I know you. You're better off having one less fiancé, one less burden to deal with!"

"No, you don't understand," he tried to explain.

"I _do_ understand. Okay, I'm admitting this now – the kiss I gave Kuno was just something to make you jealous. But right now, it's true. I'm not acting anymore. Come on," Akane said, "don't act as if you actually _care_ about these matters."

"_Baka_! I _don't_ care, but what concerns me is the fact that you're not AKANE anymore. Maybe you still haven't recovered since the day Kuno drugged you!"

He knew it was pathetic, but he couldn't say anything else. Ranma wanted this conversation to end – every second that Akane spoke, he felt sullied.

Akane chuckled. Drugged? Who said anything about Kuno drugging her? The plan was undoubtedly working 100 percent.

"Baka…" she said softly. Then she said more softly still, that only he could hear, "I'm the same _kawaiikune Akane_ you've hurt and made fun of. It's me. And like I said… there's gotta be more to my life – than to be limited into someone who cannot grow with certain… factors around."

Ranma was struck. He knew he'd been bad and indiscreet to her a couple of times, but he didn't know she'd been very much affected… he's always known her as a strong-willed person who didn't care about what other people said to her.

"So… goodbye," Akane found herself saying. She got up and walked away.

Goodbye… that word had never meant so much to Ranma until now.

Akane hadn't gone several steps when she stopped. "Ranma, before we end this, I just want to say–"

"Baka!" Ranma shouted immediately. He ran towards her and embraced her tightly.

_I don't care whatever name I call you, Akane, _Ranma thought desperately._ All I know is that I don't want you to leave!_

Even Ranma shocked himself with what he just did. His brain didn't even receive the message that the nerves in his body were sending, which meant that he acted out of impulse. Akane knew that impulses are connected with what a person really felt deep inside, and whether one liked it or not, impulses always revealed the truth. That was Akane's analysis (with a little help from The Wonders of Biology and Chemistry, of course).

But she was stunned, nonetheless, as her head rested on his shoulder.

"Baka!" Ranma shouted again, this time more feebly that it departed as a grumble. "Don't do this, Akane. Stop it…"

Then they heard the familiar ringing of a bell on a bicycle.

"Airen! Why you with hentai-girl? Have deal she stay away!" The purple-haired Amazon hurried to where the two were locked in a tight embrace, or rather, where Ranma didn't seem to want to let go of Akane.

"Hentai-girl, remember deal?"

Akane pushed Ranma away from her, but she didn't do it hard – there was no need – because Ranma was feeling too weak. She faced the Amazon.

"Yes, of course I remember, Shampoo," she assured. Then she turned to Ranma. "I just wanted to say… you could have the flowers and the gifts."

Akane glanced at the presents over Ranma's shoulder, and only Shampoo followed her gaze.

"Ranma not give them to hentai-girl, did he?"

Akane managed a smile. "No, he's not the one who gave those to me."

Without a final look at Ranma, she walked away.

_I just wanted to say I loved you Ranma, but things got harder to handle. I want to be free. Goodbye…_

"Ranma!" Shampoo mewed, embracing her airen tight with triumph.

Ranma was frozen where he was standing, looking at the figure of Akane slowly dissolving away.

**

* * *

**

It was Saturday morning. Ranma Saotome opened his eyes and found the ceiling staring blankly at him. He turned his head and looked out of the open window, and the blue, cloudless sky looked back. However, he felt like it was ignoring him.

Ranma didn't know why, but he felt depressed. When he started to get up, he fell back down flat on his butt. The morning air was cool, but he was sweating. When he finally got the strength to get up and go downstairs, he couldn't greet back his dad, his uncle, Kasumi or Nabiki, even the wretched old man Happosai. Nor could he take a bite from his breakfast.

_What's wrong with me today?_

The people in the house didn't notice anything unusual with the way Ranma was acting – they figured he was just lacking sleep, so everybody went on with their own business.

Kasumi sighed. "Love surely is in the air."

Soun looked above his newspaper. "Why so?"

"Akane," Nabiki indicated.

Genma's faced turned into puzzlement. He looked at Ranma seriously, then turned to Soun. "I thought Akane told us that she wanted to end her engagement with Ranma last night?"

Ranma dropped his chopsticks as everyone looked at him worriedly.

He completely forgot what happened yesterday! As he froze in his place with everybody's eyes watching as if he might have collapsed anytime, he was furiously scolding himself that he was so stupid for having not realized why he felt different. And to think it was the last thing he was frantically thinking of last night!

"Ranma-kun, are you okay?" Kasumi asked concernedly.

"Y-yes. Gotta go." With all the strength he could collect, he tried to put on his normal carefree expression and walked out of the residence.

"Father, did you allow Akane to have her will granted?"

Soun looked at Genma who was feeling dismal. "No, Kasumi, we did not," Soun answered curtly.

"Why?" Happosai asked. "If you ask me, nothing's going to happen between those two. They quarrel the way cats and dogs do! Ranma's better off training with us in the mountains."

"Ah, I see where this is going," Nabiki remarked. "You had a deal – an unbreakable one. Ranma and Akane's engagement is arranged and permanent. Right?"

"Well," Genma sighed, glancing at Soun, "we agreed from the start that if worst comes to worst, the kids can decide if they want to break the commitment, so last night everything could have ended. But Soun and I knew that the problem could still be remedied."

Happosai snorted. "That's what you've been doing the whole year, trying to remedy this incurable dilemma with your set-ups."

"Oh, but Ranma and Akane have gotten along on the way," Kasumi commented in an eager tone. "They shared many… _personal_ moments that only the two of them could have made possible."

Yes, Kasumi knew. And Nabiki, too. Not that Kasumi had been eavesdropping like the middle Tendo, but some things cannot help revealing themselves to her.

"And that's exactly why we didn't allow it," said Soun, resuming in reading the newspaper. "We knew there was hope."

"Then why are you both looking so grim?" asked Happosai slyly.

"Because we don't have rice anymore," Genma answered simply. "I think I'll live on bamboo shoots for now." He stood up, poured a glass of water on his head, and walked out of the dining room as a huge panda.

_This is hopeless_, Nabiki mused.

**

* * *

**

When Ranma finally reached the other side of the wall, he felt as if he could have collapsed, but he didn't. He continued walking and didn't pay attention to where he was going. Akane occupied his mind as he looked at the sky.

_What happened?_

He remembered what Akane had said the day before: "I'm the same kawaiikune Akane you've hurt and made fun of. It's me. And like I said… there's gotta be more to my life – than to be limited into someone who cannot grow with certain… factors around."

_Have I been that insensitive to her? Have I hurt her for so long and had she been upset all those times? Why didn't I take her disconcertion seriously? I wish I'd been good to her the way she was good to me… we probably would be living a happy life right now. Why didn't I tell how I really felt about her?_

Ranma spent his time regretting all that he did and did not do when Akane was still with him. He called himself the names that he called her. He insulted himself for being so stupid, letting someone like Akane go. Only now did he realize how much she meant to him – how important she was in his everyday life. It was the first time he ever felt this way for someone, and he figured…

He figured that he might as well have fallen in love with her.

And _Kami-sama_, he really had – deeply.

Then he remembered what Nabiki and Kasumi had said a while ago, about love being in the air for Akane. This made him ponder so much. Who could it be? Kuno? No, she told him that the kiss was just an act to make him jealous.

The word jealous echoed in his thoughts. He realized that it was what he actually felt now, and that fact alone indicated how profoundly he had fallen for her.

Suddenly, he was startled by a scream, a scream that resounded in his head. It was a scream that none other can make.

"Akane!" he shouted back, trying to detect where the voice came from.

Her scream was followed by a word, a word that made him truly sure it was her.

"Hentai!"

As fast as his legs could carry him, Ranma hurried to the voice's direction.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** The song Akane sang is the chorus of Stacie Oricco's _More To Life_. In the Akane-and-bloody-Ryouga scene, there was a reference to an episode where a ninja dog kept giving Akane love letters (or maybe just one, I can't seem to recall) that were from Ryouga, only she didn't know they were from him. I think Akane actually replied to the letters, saying that she appreciated his love but she loved someone else. And it's really obvious who that guy was. :p

And… you can press the review button now. (",)


	4. It All Came Out

**Disclaimer:** Not mine, not yours, but hers. And always will be.

* * *

**Changed Overnight**

**Chapter Four: It All Came Out**

Akane had left her house early to view the sunrise at the park. As she leaned on the steel fence, she realized that for once in her life – since a certain father-son pair had arrived from China – she felt free. As she gazed at the pink sky, welcoming the sun, she thought about what happened.

_It all happened so fast, Ranma. I don't know why I'm still in one piece right now._

_You've made go through a lot of emotional problems, but I wish you wouldn't know about that. And I wish more that you wouldn't know that I loved you, because it would be too embarrassing for you to know that especially with the fact that you never loved me back._

_I have Ryouga now, so I hope I wouldn't need to worry about you. Even though you never worry about me, I can't resist thinking about your welfare. You're so careless, you act before you think, you get yourself into trouble all the time, and… well, I loved you because of that. I could never deny that. It actually made me feel distressed; it drove me crazy._

_But now I just hope you're going to be happy. You still have three fiancées. Your life would be a _breeze_ without me in the way._

She yawned and stretched her arms as she waited for the last second before the sun rose.

It was all too beautiful for Akane's spirits not to be lifted. The pink sky turned purple for a moment, then finally the sun came up with its kingly composure, drowning everything in its light. The sky had finally turned blue.

Akane smiled at the sun as it beamed at her. "Ohayou," she greeted. She yawned once more and, because of sleeping very late thinking about Ranma and waking up early, had almost dropped to the ground and fell asleep on the grass in the park. Almost. Because when her head drooped to her right, it touched something, and it woke her up.

"Ohayou, Akane-san."

At first Akane was surprised. With her mind crammed with a little of everything, she couldn't quite lay a finger on who was standing beside her. A hentai from school, maybe? But the voice made her feel warm all over that she realized it was…

"Ryouga-kun!" she greeted gladly.

He was also leaning on the balustrades, but Akane never noticed him coming over a while ago.

Ryouga had realized last night that he and Akane were soon to be what he had dreamed of. That made things easier for him – for example, he got over the whole stuttering-with-Akane-there habit. It actually made him feel more confident.

"How've you been?"

"Not fine," she whined.

Ryouga was startled. What was he going to do to cheer her up? He thought of buying her balloons the moment the merchant comes to the park… or maybe treating her to lunch… or maybe–

"But right now," Akane continued with a smile, "I'm okay. You're here!"

Ryouga sighed in relief.

They spent the rest of the hour talking about what if's.

Akane giggled. "Yeah, and we'll have to buy Happosai all the panties he wants, or maybe just give him a million yen. We'd still have 99 million."

They both laughed. It was followed by a peaceful silence.

"Hey, what if… you know," Ryouga suggested, blushing (and wondering where he got the guts to say it), "we get married and have kids?"

Akane smiled at Ryouga. "Then we get married and have kids," she said shortly.

Ryouga blushed redder than ever.

"But Ryouga, I wish you were at Furinkan. Everything would be easier if you were there. I feel… safe when you're there. Please," she entreated, looking up at Ryouga's face, "go to school with me."

Besides fending off the Hentai Horde for her, which Akane was sure he would do, Ryouga would be there to eat her cooking, mingle with Sayuri and Yuka, walk with her around the school grounds – to sum it all up, he'd be her… companion.

"Akane…" Ryouga had realized how Akane cared for him now. Just days ago he wished so madly for Akane to think about him, and now she's asking him to go to school with her! But he also realized the reason why he came all the way here to Nerima. "I need to train to defeat Ranma! Gomen nasai, but I–"

"Ryouga," Akane had interrupted imploringly, "you've made me fall in love with you. Isn't that enough to say you've defeated Ranma?"

"I… Akane… Okay, I'll take the entrance test. If I pass, then I'll go to school with you. But if I don't–"

Akane interrupted him again. "Really?" Her face lit up that Ryouga had to smile despite being stunned.

"But Ryouga," Akane's face twisted in wonder, "maybe it'll happen again."

"What will happen again?"

"Remember the last time I offered to have an all-nighter in my room last time? Nabiki told me that Happosai kidnapped you and put you in a room, that's why you never came."

"And?"

Akane giggled. "Happosai likes you!"

"What!"

"Just kidding."

Ryouga put on an annoyed look to go with the joke.

"I think Happosai likes _you_," he said.

"Gross!"

Ryouga chuckled. The ice had been broken and he didn't feel tense anymore.

Akane lightly punched Ryouga's arm. "Don't ever joke about that again. It's nasty."

"It's you who started it," Ryouga reasoned. Then he slowly put his arm over Akane's shoulders. "But you know, I don't think there isn't anyone you know who doesn't like you. I mean, who wouldn't?"

Akane smiled.

_Ryouga, that was so sweet of you. You're the best guy a girl could ever have._

She didn't answer him, but her actions spoke louder than her words. She stood on tiptoe, slowly drew Ryouga's face close to her, and closed her eyes for a kiss. Even before their lips met, Ryouga's eyes widened and he blushed. When their lips touched… well, it _heaven_ for both of them.

Ryouga, most of all, knew he was the happiest man alive. And Akane knew she already learned how to love him.

Suddenly she put her hand on Ryouga's face… and pinched his cheek. The kiss was broken.

"OW! What was that for?"

"Oh… it's just because you're so… CUTE!" Akane lunged towards Ryouga and reached for his cheeks again to pinch, only he evaded her.

Ryouga raised his eyebrow. "So that's the way you want to play, huh?" He headed towards Akane with his hands threatening to tickle her sides.

"Oh, no…" Akane giggled. "No, Ryouga, stop… Don't!"

Akane's pleas were ignored and Ryouga tickled her ribs. Akane screamed, and then fell onto the grass with her giggles still going on. Ryouga didn't stop. He was on top of Akane and he was still tickling her. They were both laughing playfully.

"You wanted to play this way, Akane, so admit your defeat!"

Akane, still moving about in one place, pinned on the ground by Ryouga's surprising weight, managed to blurt out, "No!"

"You're not saying it, are you?"

With a last rain of tickles, Akane couldn't take it anymore. She giggled a last time.

"Hentai!"

"Say it, or I'll kiss you…"

"_Then kiss me_," she dared.

"You asked for it."

Ryouga stopped tickling Akane. Before he could even move his face forward, Akane pulled his shirt and pressed her lips to his.

And it happened – their lips touched – just in time for the pigtailed martial artist to enter the scene.

"Akane!"

_If something happened to Akane, I–_

Ranma staggered upon what he saw. Ryouga was pinning Akane to the ground and was kissing her, who had just screamed _hentai_. It could only mean one thing.

"_Get off her_!" he growled. His fist threatened to break every inch of Ryouga in fury as they both fumbled with each other until Ranma pinned him to the steel fence.

"Ranma!" Ryouga looked past Ranma's shoulder at Akane and his situation and understood. "It's not what you think. Look–"

"_I'll kill you_," Ranma snarled dangerously.

Akane got up from a few feet away. Ranma saw that she was already okay so he removed his hands from Ryouga's shirt and walked backwards, not taking his eyes off the traitor. A second later he was flabbergasted when Akane helped Ryouga up.

"You okay?" she asked Ryouga nervously.

Ryouga groaned softly as he hanged on to Akane's arm. "I'm fine."

"Don't touch her!" Ranma demanded. "Akane, come here, quick!"

Akane didn't move. "Ranma…"

"Akane, stay away from _him_! Come on, I'm here to protect you from that pig."

"Ranma, don't call him a pig, please…"

"Baka!" Ranma muttered under his breath. He hurried to Akane and pulled her away from Ryouga. "Are you okay? Were you hurt? He could have done something worse! That pig–"

"Ranma, don't call him a pig!" Akane insisted.

Ranma spent a few seconds recovering form his furious words. "What do you mean?"

Akane hesitated to say it, but she did. "He wasn't doing anything to me that I didn't want. In proper terms… he did everything with my consent."

"But he was on you and you were screaming!" Ranma reasoned desperately. "He was kissing you!"

Akane shook her head, giving Ranma an apologetic look.

Ranma's eyes traveled from Ryouga to Akane. Then he chuckled. It was a hollow, forced laugh and all three of them knew it.

"Ranma," Akane started. "Stop it."

Ranma understood. "I see, Akane. I finally get it." His face muscles were clearly pained but he tried to smile. "I get it. All those times – ever since that day. I never had a clue even though he was right in the house! How could I have been so…" His voice faded.

Akane touched Ranma's shoulder. "Ranma, please…"

"HOW COULD I HAVE BEEN SO STUPID?" he bellowed.

"No, Ranma, you're not," Akane beseeched, laying a hand on his shoulder. "Please don't be like this."

"So you just did this to me, huh? On purpose? WHY? First you turn all weird, and the next thing I know–" Ranma broke off into a fit of sobs with his head down, but Akane saw no tears.

"Ranma, get a hold of yourself!" Ryouga stated anxiously.

It was like he couldn't hear anything anymore. He sobbed nonstop. In fact, his sobs started to sound different that it seemed like he was having difficulty breathing.

"Ranma!" Akane shook the troubled man's shoulder. "Ranma, stop it!"

"You… made a fool out of m-me, Akane. You and that pig."

Out of nowhere, Ranma felt Akane's arms embracing him. "Stop it!" he heard her whisper hoarsely. "You're not doing any good!"

Ryouga twitched when he saw what Akane just did. It was as if he was transported back to the time when he was a helpless piglet watching them from afar when they fought like a married couple.

"Akane, you've made a fool out of me," Ranma muttered.

"Stop…" Akane begged. This was all too much for her to take. If Ranma had caused her pain before by being cynical, the pain he was inflicting on her this time was a hundred times worse.

"All along, you have!"

"Stop…"

"And to think I actually–"

"Stop…"

"I ACTUALLY FELL IN LOVE WITH YOU!"

"STOP!" Akane shouted. She'd slapped Ranma before realizing what he just said. She thought he was going to say something like Akane making a fool out of him again, which was totally not true. Besides, she didn't want to hear it anymore. Expecting those words, Akane was so angry that she'd slapped him on the spot.

There was silence for minutes that seemed like forever. Everything was quiet except for the wind that blew through the milieu and hovered upon three frozen figures:

a breathless Akane,

_Ranma said he fell in love with me… he did! _

a stunned Ranma,

_Kami-sama, I slipped… I told her! Now she knows… _

and a helpless Ryouga.

_He didn't have to say it! Now everything… everything _won't_ be okay…_

"Akane? Akane Tendo?"

The tense silence was broken. All three heads turned to the voice's direction, but no one replied to the tall, foreign-looking guy clad in a black overcoat. He made his way to Akane, unmindful of the two silent men eyeing him.

"Akane, we've got rehearsals right now. You haven't been attending the last two dry runs and Aiko-sensei's been fretting about that. Do you still memorize the dance?" He took her hand, not detecting the frowns forming on Ranma's and Ryouga's lips. "Come on, final practice. Tonight's the night, remember?"

No, she didn't. She forgot.

The newcomer looked at Ranma, and then Ryouga. "Oh, I see you're… I'm sorry. But please, gentlemen, let Akane attend the final practice for tonight's show. We've practiced very hard for this."

It was Ryouga who nodded. He didn't know that Akane had been practicing for a show, but the polite guy looked so imperative that he sensed it was very important.

"Well, that settles it. Come on, Akane," he said urgently, "they're all waiting for you at the studio." He pulled her hand and started to walk away.

"Jiro," Akane protested weakly to no avail. She let herself be dragged away from the park. Maybe it was better that way. She felt, more than ever, that everything was terribly erroneous. A day without thinking about her problems would do her soul good.

Ranma and Ryouga were left by themselves. For a while, Ryouga pitied his archenemy – Ranma finally gave way to the tears flowing silently down his cheeks, one of them red because of the slap Akane gave him. He looked like he'd gone through hell.

Then he shot Ryouga a fuming look.

"You pig," he sniped.

"Ranma, it's not what you think," Ryouga clarifed. "Akane definitely didn't make a fool out of you, and she didn't do anything wrong!"

"You're a pig from hell, P-chan," Ranma went on as if he didn't hear Ryouga. "You went behind my back. You're saying it's not that way?" He laughed mockingly. "Right!" He tried to keep calm, but resentment was evident in his voice.

Ryouga couldn't lay a finger on what was going on with Ranma.

_I don't believe this guy! He's never acted this way; he never actually cared about Akane before. Then all of a sudden he's mad because Akane's decided to stick to another guy? It's just… unreasonable!_

"You tell me, Saotome. You tell me."

"Oh, and now that! What are you talking about?"

Ryouga gave out a wry chuckle.

"You've never valued Akane before. You were always there, not to do her good, but to _offend_ her. Don't you know that you're the reason she cried every night? She always asked me why things never go her way, why you can't ever love her. Why you can't ever love her, Ranma. She said those words, and it almost made me want to give up.

"But in most nights, whenever she entered her bedroom she always had a frown of her face, and it kept me hoping – hoping she would hate you for real, unlike the way she pretended to before. You know, it kept on going like that for a long while. She always cried over you, and it made me want to assure her that everything would be all right, but I _couldn't_ because I'm a _pig_!"

As Ranma took in every word that Ryouga was saying, his head began to throb. If what Ryouga just said was the truth, then… then he'd completely lived the past year speciously.

"One night," Ryouga went on, his mouth overflowing with words he never would have confessed even to the holiest monk or priest, "she said something about a plan, and that the next in line was me. But she said she didn't want to hurt my feelings because I was a good friend. A friend, Ranma – it hurt me so much. Nevertheless, what hit me most was that Akane was hurt. She was clearly doing things she didn't want to do because of _you_. I swore I would kill you, Ranma, I did!"

Ranma knew that Ryouga wanted so much to defeat him, but to kill him? What did he make Akane do against her will that angered Ryouga so much, anyway? He didn't remember blackmailing Akane in any way…

"_What_ did I do to her?" Ranma asked unrelentingly. "You keep accusing me of a crime I didn't even know I committed!"

Ryouga gave him a derisive laugh. "You're even more insensitive than Akane claimed you were! Come on Ranma, you know what I mean. Akane might seem to be strong-willed, which of course she is, but she has a sensitive personality. I observed it whenever she cried her heart out to P-chan every night. All those names you've called her, jokingly or not… the way you mocked every aspect of her being… the way you never cared for her…"

"I've always cared for Akane, and you know that," Ranma snapped defensively. Well, he did, truthfully! He was always worried for her because she was so stubborn and he had to get her out of hot water many times. Yes, Akane made it clear that she didn't want to be insulted, but of course nobody wants to be! Only now did he learn that Akane was a sensitive soul… and the way she reacted furiously with the names he'd been calling her was just some sort of façade to mask what she really felt.

"But you were insensitive even so," Ryouga snapped back.

He felt his whole being fall down in pieces. Ryouga said that Akane had asked P-chan why Ranma can't ever love her. Well, if malleting him out of orbit all the time was her way of showing her love, then Akane was way harder to decipher than he'd thought. Because of his failing to analyze her, Ranma was left with… well, nothing. But he still wasn't sure about the fact that Akane loved him. She was a straightforward person – she'd have told him about the way she felt!

Everything Ryouga'd been saying seemed somewhat impossible now.

"Speechless, aren't we?" Ryouga asked contemptuously. "Guilty? If you bowed down at Akane's feet and begged for forgiveness, maybe I'll change my mind about killing you."

"Why not just kill me now, Ryouga, huh?" Ranma challenged, finding new strength at the thought of what Ryouga was saying might not be entirely true. Maybe it was a new technique of his that Cologne taught him, where he found strength in the depression of his opponent. "Simply put, why didn't you just kill me in the past when you had the chance?"

He bought himself some time to evaluate what was going on. Since Akane had left, the things Ryouga told him seemed unbelievable. If he kept Ryouga talking, he can observe his aura and assess how powerful his attack was going to be.

"Because on the day I challenged you at Furinkan, you left. Escaped. Turned your head from battle, you coward."

_Forget about the energy assessment_, Ranma thought heatedly.

"I'm no coward!" he growled.

"You ran from battle; you can't deny it," Ryouga pressed on. "I don't know what happened between you and Akane when you left to chase her, but it changed the course of my life again. That night, Akane was cheerful when she talked about you. She asked me if I thought you liked her, and she asked me if I thought she was in love. That blew it, Ranma. She was in love with _you_."

It seemed unbelievable still, but Ryouga's pained expression told him that it was a hundred and one percent true. The Lost Boy could never disguise the emotions painted on his face.

_Akane was in love with _me_! Why just… why just now? If only she were more transparent about her feelings, then I would have told her what I felt about her! This couldn't be happening… _

He lost control of his mouth, he lost track of how Akane felt, he lost her, he lost the ability to speak, and he might as well have lost his sanity.

"Yeah, she was in love with you, Ranma," sighed Ryouga. "I thought it was the end of the world and I wanted to die. I wandered into old man Toda's property – the man couldn't have picked a better day to move – and lost control of myself until I felt deathly pain embracing my body. When you found me, I was so disgusted with you! You totally took Akane for granted, and yet she loved you. I was afraid that she would tell you about her feelings and end up even more hurt after you broke her heart. I swore I would change her mind about loving you! I don't know what happened, but the next thing I knew, I was in your house."

_Because I brought you there_, Ranma wanted to say as abhorrence surged though his veins. _If I didn't, then you'd have been left in that forsaken place to _die

"Akane visited me that night, and…" Ryouga paused, a smirk forming on his lips, "you don't want to _know_ what happened. It was the happiest, most fortunate moment of my life, Ranma! She found the letter she sent as a reply to my ninja dog."

It hit Ranma like a block of cement. He remembered Akane asking him about why he didn't tell her who sent all those letters via the black-and-white ninja dog when they walked to school one morning, but he never got to answer her – or think about what could have happened that made her ask him about it – because she promptly told him about breaking their engagement. So… the night that Ryouga was talking about happened a few hours before Akane informed him about ending the engagement!

Ranma remembered seeing Ryouga's bag inside the room where they nursed him. A split second later, he realized that Akane must have seen her own reply in the bag! Why didn't he just throw it away, anyway?

Then the obvious truth came to him. Ryouga would never throw away anything Akane gave him, even her cooking. His tongue mutates into an Akane's-cooking-resistant muscle monster. And Ranma didn't know why, but out of nowhere a loud notion popped in his head that told him, "Ah, but if the ninja dog had gave _you_ Akane's letter, you wouldn't throw it away either."

Still, the pig was a sneak! Just because Akane pitied him in his feeble, injured state didn't mean that he could take advantage of it and lure her into…

Ranma couldn't bear to think about it.

"You know what she said, Ranma? She said she was sorry – sorry for being blinded by her feelings for you, which you never returned. And Ranma," he took a deep breath, the smirk in his face complete, "we actually shared our first _kiss_ together!"

His ability to speak seemed to have been truly lost as Ranma's jaw dropped. Damn, and he mentally swore just an hour ago when he discovered that he had fallen for Akane that he would never let any guy touch her – even the person whom she claimed she's fallen in love with!

Who was, technically, the man standing in front of him.

"What's important is that we were together, she said. Believe me, Ranma, all the thorns that pricked my heart were all removed at that moment. It made me happy that Akane wasn't going to suffer anymore from your inconsiderateness. Heck, I'd even forgotten that I turn into a little black pig when I come in contact with cold water! I've got Akane, Ranma, and you're not taking her away anymore. You don't deserve her. You deserve someone worse than yourself," he spat.

There was an uptight silence after that.

Ranma's tears had dried just before the tables turned, before Ryouga decanted his anger and Ranma trembled with the truth, but now they threatened more than ever to flood his face and obscure his picture as an indestructible martial artist.

He blinked to prevent teardrops from streaming out of his ducts.

_Self control_, Ranma told himself. His mind was numb from everything he'd just discovered, but despite that fact he managed to string those two words together. He had been degraded enough that morning, and he wasn't to be ruined even more.

"Nothing to say, Ranma?" Ryouga's voice called disdainfully. He waited for a minute, basking at the sight of his archenemy, who might as well have bowed in defeat, at his weakest. The pigtailed martial artist appeared to have clenched his mouth with glue, and Ryouga realized he was nowhere near saying anything rational.

"Goodbye, then."

He walked past the frozen Ranma, leaving him alone in the morning sunlight that did him no better than a cold winter night.


	5. Nights of Glitter, Talk, and Despondency

**Disclaimer:** Not mine, not yours, but hers.

* * *

**Changed Overnight**

**Chapter Five: Nights of Glitter, Talk, and Despondency**

The Nerima Auditorium was full. It was the first and final show of The Night of Corporal Symphony, an event that the administration of Nerima had organized. It was not a competition, as many had expected it to be, but a joint presentation incorporating a chosen set of high school students, each representing a particular school.

There were many people outside – the ones who didn't fit inside (or the unfortunate and/or imprudent students who lost their tickets), so they were forced to watch what was happening on the big screen that was situated on the auditorium's vast wall.

Ranma Saotome, however, didn't go inside. He sat on a rock under an oak tree far from the crowd, but near enough for him to be able to see the performers in the big screen. An hour ago he was having difficulty making his mind up about attending the event – he paced back and forth under the same tree, until he knew he had no choice when he tore his ticket up in agitation.

"And now," the commentator's deep voice thundered, "put your hands together for the delegates of Furinkan High and St. Hebereke High!"

Avid applause was heard even from the outside. The two delegates' friends, supporters and schoolmates cheered their lungs out – they had been zealous (and intrigued, having realized that the two rival schools had united in this event) about the performance the moment they learned about it.

The red curtains opened for the fourth time. The grand piano from the orchestra below the stage produced the poignant, mysterious low drone of Ludwig Van Beethoven's _Moonlight Sonata_ that resounded throughout the whole Nerima, courtesy of the high tech speakers the size of elephants located outside.

The spotlight scanned the walls inside the auditorium, stopping on the empty spot in the middle of the stage as if waiting for lightning to strike it. Just then, everyone was at the edge of their seats as the faint glow of the scene illuminated two figures gliding from opposite sides of the stage towards the spotlight.

As the second measure of Moonlight Sonata resonated into the audience's ears, Akane and Jiro came in full focus, ready to portray the romantic tragedy of _The Princess and The Pauper_ from the 18th century. Akane wore a pink gown that brushed her thighs, and a tiara. Her legs were bare and her feet were in a pair of pink ballet flats. Her skin appeared porcelain white except for the blush on her cheeks, and her lips were as red as the rose – she was breathtaking. Jiro was wore a black, long-sleeved top made of spandex and black tights underneath the black overcoat he'd wore that morning when he came to pick Akane up in the park. He too was as pale as a ghost, except for his tinted lips and blue eyes that made him look angelic.

_That's Akane_! Ryouga, sitting with the Tendos in the audience, told himself breathlessly. _Ryouga, that's your girl!_

At first, Jiro and Akane encircled each other, and then Jiro danced around her with a face full of regret and melancholy as the second measure of the piano piece ended.

Under the oak tree outside the auditorium sat a pigtailed guy who might as well have had the same expression as Jiro's. Ranma couldn't control his tears as he watched the big screen – Akane's face was full of despair that definitely fitted the grave music, but he knew that behind that sad face was real sadness, and that he was the reason for it. He broke her heart, and thus she took refuge under Ryouga's love, but it wasn't soon until Ranma demanded an explanation for her inexplicable attitude. The answer Akane gave as an exchange for his confession – that he had loved her all along but never told her.

And, incidentally, it was too late. He lost her already. Kind of like the tragedy of The Princess and The Pauper, really.

"Isn't Akane Tendo a martial artist, too?" he heard a man's voice say. "She's so talented. Ballet and martial arts are two opposite things and she does them even without trying. She's the best, man!"

"Yeah, I know," a second guy answered, gazing at the screen. "But I'm sure neither of us would have a chance on her. In her school alone, every guy's crazy about her. And I heard she's already got a fiancé."

The first guy gasped. "What? She's only sixteen! But no wonder… she's what every man could ask for. Who's the lucky guy?"

Ranma took a deep breath. _Well, here we go_.

"I heard the name's…" the second man paused, trying to recall what he'd heard from the cheerleaders of his school. "Ranma Saotome – or something like that. He's a good-looking guy as I've heard from the girls in our school."

"Is he the one dancing with her up on the stage – the foreigner? He looks like a Ranma Saotome. I mean, a pretty girl's gotta have a pretty boyfriend."

"No idea, never seen him. But yeah, you've got a point."

Ranma grimaced. First of all, Jiro is absolutely no Ranma Saotome. Second of all… well, he wasn't her fiancé anymore – their parents agreed to the breaking of the engagement.

Of course, he had already left that early morning when the rest of the people in the household talked about it. Soun Tendo and Genma Saotome did not permit it. But Ranma didn't know that, so he was already convinced that he couldn't be more miserable.

"Wow. The perfect couple, huh? Their lives can't get any better than that."

More than ever, Ranma wanted this to be just some stupid nightmare in dream world. He'd wake up, get dressed for school, proceed to the dining room, and be welcomed by Akane's yapping. Then both of their fathers would remark on how cute they were as a couple.

_No, that's the dream world_, Ranma realized. _Akane's through with me._

He continued to watch the big screen. Jiro had removed his black overcoat now, and he was trying to get through a circle of gray-clad men (back-up dancers whose roles were to play the army) who surrounded a struggling Akane, spinning rapidly on her place inside the wall of soldiers. Seeing that Jiro, the man they accused of plotting against the princess, had fled, the army retreated into the shadows, leaving the princess on the stage.

At the sound of the sonata's next measure, Akane Tendo, under the limelight that followed her every move, began her solo dance – the one that captured a thousand hearts that night. She proved herself more flexible than her schoolmates thought as she hopped from one place on the stage to another and stood on tiptoe after spinning. Of course, the fact that the audience understood that she was looking for her lost lover proved that she was not only a good dancer, but also an excellent interpreter. She waved her hands around slowly as she made one long jump, landing gracefully on the center of the stage.

Akane inhaled deeply as her eyes scanned the audience.

_He's not here…_

She stood on her left leg and slowly curled into a ball. Just then, it seemed that the whole audience had gasped as one – Akane fell on the floor! Some thought that she lost her balance, but the critics (and most of the audience, at that) knew that it was a sign of the princess' death.

Jiro came into the picture when the last measure of the sonata began. He did what looked like a desperate dance around the stage, as if he was in search of the princess. Finally, when he saw the princess' body, he took a big leap to the center of the stage and knelt down beside her, tearing his clothes in woe. As the Moonlight Sonata came into an end, a half-naked Jiro threw himself over Akane's body… and the spotlight faded at the final touch of the piano keys.

The whole auditorium shook with thunderous applause. Akane and Jiro proved to be worthy of not only one, but two standing ovations as the praise seemed to go on forever. Graceful. Elegant. Heavenly. Superb. No word could ever describe their performance that night.

After three more dances from the other schools and the grand finale where all the delegates participated, The Night of Corporal Symphony was finally over – but not for everybody.

The Tendo family, and of course Genma Saotome (it was the time of night when Happy raided the clotheslines for sweets, especially tonight when almost everybody in Nerima had attended the show, so he wasn't there), celebrated in a big bar not far from the auditorium. Somewhere along the way, they saw Ranma whom they managed to drag into the party.

But of course they weren't the only ones who celebrated. Everyone in the bar was happy, and Ranma tried his best to be happy as well – for Akane and her accomplishment, but it cannot be denied that he felt miserable the whole night. He sat quietly, eyeing Ryouga and Akane who looked like they were having the time of their lives huddled close together, listening to the band's music and taking little bites out of the delicious food Nabiki had offered to pay for.

There were quite a number of people in the bar – about two hundred. They were mostly people from the audience who came to celebrate with their friends who were in the show.

Silence fell when the music died down and a man wearing a tuxedo came, holding a microphone.

"People, we all know what happened in the Nerima auditorium tonight. There were amazing performances by our talented dancers – yes, all of the very good!"

The audience cheered in agreement.

"But there was this… particular performance that captured our hearts, am I right? I've watched the show myself, and might I say that The Princess and The Pauper was _splendid_!"

More cheers.

"And yes… when the princess died, I was absolutely saddened. Not only because of the tragic end, but because I knew that she had stopped dancing in the performance! The beautiful princess completely amazed me… and, I believe, all of you. Yes, ladies and gentlemen – _the girl_. Word says that she could also sing well, so may we please request her to come here and sing to the piano's melody? Let us welcome… Miss Akane Tendo!"

The whole room erupted with applause. Akane, though, didn't know about this and froze on her seat. Sayuri and Yuka waved to her from the crowd. Kuno was also waving from a table with his kendo team, exclaiming, "Tendo Akane, thou shall always have my love!"

"Oh, _Kami_," she gasped nervously.

Ryouga was sitting right beside her so he heard. He took her cold hand and squeezed it. "You'll be brilliant," he whispered. He stood and helped Akane up.

From that point, having received more than enough encouragement, Akane waved back to everybody else. She shyly made her way to the platform in the white, fit dress she changed into after the show. It emphasized her curves and made her the apple of everyone's eyes that night.

"Okay, what song do you guys want me to sing?" she asked lively, taking hold the microphone and leaning on the grand piano.

There were a couple of people who shouted out song titles. Akane listened for a title of a song she knew, and then whispered to the pianist who nodded his approval. The music began to flow out the grand piano that hushed everyone. They knew that in a few seconds, they were going to hear an angel sing.

Akane gulped one last time as the instrumental introduction ended and the first stanza had to be sung.

"_Like the sound of silence calling_

_I hear your voice and suddenly I'm falling_

_Lost in a dream…"_

"And what do you want me to say?" Akane heard Ranma speak as the memories flashed in her head. She remembered his strong grip pulling her closer to him. His sight never left hers, as if he could see into her soul. "Tell me. I'll say it, just for you to stop this foolishness."

"_Like the echoes of our souls are meeting_

_I hear your voice, my heart stops beating_

_I wonder what it means…_

_What could it be that comes over me?_

_At times I can't move, at times I can hardly breathe…"_

"Where did that girl go?" She remembered Ranma asking her, almost in a whisper. Right after that, she couldn't hold her feelings in anymore – she needed to have someone to cry to, and Ranma was right there to be her pillar of strength.

"_When you say you love me_

_The world goes still, so still inside and_

_When you say you love me_

_For a moment, there's no one else alive…" _

"Akane, you've made a fool out of me," she heard him say.

She begged him to stop, but he didn't.

"All along, you have!"

Again, she pleaded to no avail.

"And to think I actually–"

Why couldn't he understand that he was hurting her that way?

"I ACTUALLY FELL IN LOVE WITH YOU!"

"STOP!" she had yelled, right before slapping his cheek, before the deadly silence began.

"_You're the one I've always thought of _

_I don't know why, but I feel sheltered in you love_

_You're where I belong…_

_And when you're with me, if I close my eyes_

_There are times I swear I feel like I can fly_

_For a moment in time…_

_Somewhere between the heavens and earth_

_I'm frozen in time, oh when you say those words…"_

She blinked her tears away and kept herself singing.

"_When you say you love me_

_The world goes still, so still inside and_

_When you say you love me_

_For a moment, there's no one else alive…"_

She smiled as the people clapped when she hit perfectly a particularly high note.

"_And this journey that we're on_

_How far we've come and I celebrate every moment_

_When you say you love me_

_That's all you have to say, I'll always feel this way…_

_When you say you love me_

_The world goes still, so still inside and_

_When you say you love me_

_In that moment, I know why I'm alive_

_When you say you love me…_

_When you say you love me_

_Do you know…"_

The short second before the song's final line stretched for a minute in Akane's mind.

Ranma was fuming when he found out about Ryouga. Did that mean that he knew?

_Did you know the whole time, Ranma? Do you really know…_

"_How I love you…"_

The pianist hit the last note.

Deafening applause filled the big bar. Akane was beaming already, and it made her look even more beautiful. Everybody definitely loved her voice that could have sent any famous singer running.

Ranma, who sat alone at a separate table, still looked grave… but hearing her voice sing made him forget his troubles for three minutes. During the song, Ranma felt like he was floating on air as memories of the funny and intimate experiences he had with Akane played in his head like a movie. For the first time since a long while, an indication of a smile was traced on his lips.

And when it was over, he once again awakened to the bitter truth.

"Thank you all!"

Akane headed back to her table where she saw that her father, her uncle, Kasumi, Nabiki, and Ryouga were clearly very proud of her.

"Just as I thought, you were brilliant," Ryouga whispered to Akane's ear as she sat down.

"Thanks, Ra–" she stopped. "Ryouga," she finished hastily, putting on a quick, tense smile on her face as Ryouga, who didn't seem to hear, planted a kiss on her cheek.

The hours that followed passed in a jiffy. After they ate their hearts out – it wasn't everyday that Nabiki was generous – they went home gleeful, content, and dead-tired.

* * *

Ranma couldn't sleep. Of course he couldn't, especially with his pop snoring like an erupting volcano. But as morning crept closer, he could no longer hear his pop's snores. All he could hear was Akane's voice singing that night. And although he was staring at the ceiling, what he saw were flashes of his own life before him.

Well, he knew it wasn't his death yet, but he realized that losing Akane was just as good as being dead. Memories of the first time they met came across him – the time his father dragged him into the Tendo dojo when turned into a girl in the rain and he was appointed to marry the girl who looked the strictest and toughest among the Tendo sisters. They never got along when Akane discovered he was a guy, especially when she walked into him in the bathroom and called him a pervert since then.

He remembered the time the frog man came to town and had almost splashed water from Jusenkyo on him that would turn him into a frog when hit with cold water. But Akane risked her life and got hit with the water instead. Ranma remembered crying his heart out and telling Akane she shouldn't have done it. He realized then, not for the first time, that she really cared for him. But the water was just normal, after all, and Akane had a trail on his feelings for her when she teased him about his tears.

_Darn it!_

He knew he had to stop thinking about her; she belonged to Ryouga now. He knew it was his fault in the first place for being so cynical and stubborn, yet a thought kept tugging at the back of his mind – _he could do something about it if he wanted to_. He waved his hand away to dismiss the persisting thought because he didn't want trouble anymore, but little did he know he was already squeezing everything out of his pillow, and feathers were all over the room. Most of all, he didn't know he was crying so the feathers stuck to his face.

He went out of his room when he found the urge to look at Akane.

Another one of those many nights…

He tried in the past to deny that he enjoyed seeing Akane sleep, whether he'd peeked through her window in the middle of the night or she'd drift into sleep while they were having study sessions. Now, he figured the truth couldn't make him feel worse, so he quit denying it.

He opened the door slowly and took a peek at the sleeping angel illuminated by the moonlight. Her slumber was so deep and she lay down innocently, so gently, that Ranma felt like it was as if she wasn't at all affected with what just happened in her life.

Ranma figured that if it was true (and it most probably was), one of the main reasons is that he gave her such a hard time when they were still together, that breaking up with him had lifted all her burdens. As he closed the door silently, defeat dominating his spirit, he headed downstairs to the kitchen.

When he saw the refrigerator open, he thought that it was just some careless oaf who forgot to close it, as what always happened before. But when he saw a dark figure emerging from behind the counter, it made the hairs on his neck stand on end.

"Show yourself!" he demanded after regaining his composure. He stood on fighting stance as he waited for the shadow to reveal its identity.

"Oi," Ryouga muttered plainly as he closed the fridge and sat on one of the chairs by the counter.

"R-Ryouga?"

Ranma exhaled in relief. He hesitated, but he sat down on one of the chairs by the counter anyway.

"What are you doing here?"

"I should ask you that," Ryouga replied, facing Ranma. "I could sleep like an infant anytime. You… well, you're going through things."

There was tense silence between the two of them for a few moments.

"So…" Ryouga began, trying to start a decent conversation. "How's it been the past few hours?"

Of course he meant how it had been for Ranma since he found out the truth yesterday morning. He was expecting him to say that he was fine – Ranma always kept his strong image – and indeed, Ranma did.

"Fine. Normal. You?"

"Great. Heaven. You sure nothing's wrong? The way I see it, you're taking it hard to the heart. I heard you moaning and crying in your sleep a while ago."

Ranma winced, and an even longer silence followed.

"Look, I'm sorry about yesterday," Ryouga apologized, ending the silence. "That was something harsh I did, shouting at you when you… well, you know."

"S'okay."

"It's just that…" Ryouga stopped, hesitating to continue. He took a deep breath. "I felt… threatened. You and Akane were always very close. And I knew that despite all the times you called her names, you cared for her."

"Since when?"

"Since I met her the first time when I challenged you in Furinkan. Yeah, you evidently had feelings for her. I don't know why she never noticed, or why you won't just tell her about it. That's why I let out my anger on you because you had everything that you needed and things always agreed with your fate, but you never told her. I wanted her to love me, let alone say my feelings so badly, but I couldn't. I kept wondering why you never revealed that you loved her."

Without thinking, Ranma snapped, "No, not _loved_, Ryouga. I still do."

Ryouga raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"I-I'm sorry."

Ranma looked down on the floor.

"It's nothing. I know you still do."

Ryouga removed the bandana from his head.

"But right now, Ranma," he continued, "the most important thing is that she's happy with the person she's with. And at the moment, if it's one of us, it's me. You had your time, Ranma. It's almost been a year and you never made your move… My turn now and I think I'm doing it right."

_Yeah, doing it right._ Ranma wished he did it back then.

"Only one problem," Ryouga grumbled, banging his fist on the counter. "When she finds out I'm P-chan, there's no knowing what she could do. I just hope she accepts it, but I have the feeling she'll… break up with me."

Fear came upon Ryouga's face when he said it. Ranma couldn't help feeling sorry for the guy – his definition of Armageddon was the day that Akane found out about him being P-chan.

"I hope I could say it to her before she finds out from something… or someone," he added, glancing at Ranma.

Ranma knew what Ryouga meant when his eyes met the Lost Boy's. "Whoah. Don't worry, I won't spill the beans. I mean, I always tried before, but she never knew anyway." He grinned at Ryouga's worried figure.

"Better don't."

"Well, I won't."

They heard a dog howl from outside the lot as the third moment of silence passed.

"You know," Ryouga started, "it doesn't matter if it's you or me or anybody. All I want is for Akane to be happy – as long as she's in the right hands, the hands that would take care and protect her, I'm okay with it. Sure I'd be depressed, we all know that," he scoffed, "but her happiness is all I want. And right now, it's me… so I couldn't be more contented."

_Yeah, Ryouga,_ Ranma thought, feeling his energy ebbing as every second ticked away. _It's you._

"I'll go to sleep now," he mumbled, getting up from the chair.

"Well, I'm sure you can't, but you could stare at the ceiling until morning."

As Ranma turned his back, Ryouga added, "By the way, have you been messing around with Mousse?"

"Why?"

"You've got feathers all over your head."

Ranma hurried to the nearest mirror and discovered that the feathers from his pillow were sticking to his face the whole time, and Ryouga never told him. Nevertheless, he continued ambling towards his room hopelessly where he was welcomed by his father's destructive noise once again.

**

* * *

**

"Ranma, wake up, you're going to be late for school!" he heard his angel's voice waking him up the following morning. He slowly opened his eyes. "Come on, slowpoke," she said, turning to leave his room.

He remembered calling Akane back with harsh names whenever she bugged him in his sleep, but somehow he found himself saying a different thing.

"_Akane, don't leave me."_

Akane looked back. "What? Oh, okay, I'll help you up. They told me you never caught a wink last night, but you have to go to school still." She completely misunderstood what Ranma had said, but she helped him get up from bed anyway.

"Akane, don't leave me…" Ranma continued mumbling.

"Baka. I'm walking to school with you, how can I leave you?"

She took hold one of Ranma's hands and tried to pull him up, but he was too heavy. In fact, he wasn't moving at all. It was as if he didn't have a drop of energy left in his body – his eyes were half-closed, he was pale… and his whole room was a mess as if he'd been chasing ducks all night.

"Ranma, you're…" When she kneeled down and touched his forehead, she knew she'd made the decision to not go to school that day, or maybe the following days to come. "You're burning ill!"

"Don't… leave me…" he whispered feebly.

"I'll go get Kasumi, don't worry," Akane wheezed as she headed downstairs quickly.

A teardrop helplessly rolled down on Ranma's face as his sight dissolved in darkness.

* * *

_There's something out there. I can feel something steadily pulsing… it's intelligible yet it feels so far…_

_Where am I? Why can't I see anything? What happened?_

_Akane… Damn, she left me for Ryouga, and it was my fault. I've been so harsh in the past – even when I've hurt her feelings, and even though I had the idea she had feelings for me. When I decided to tell her how I really felt, it was too late._

_I'm tired of telling myself off and regretting everything. I wish everything would stay this way – dark – with no one around to listen to me and my stupid insensitivity except myself. If this is a dream, I don't want to wake up. If I'm dying, I want to die completely._

_But why's the pulse becoming clearer and clearer?_

He heard the constant drip-drop of liquid just above him. Was it the rain leaking through the roof? Ranma tried to open his eyes, but it was as if he was lifting weights more than ten times heavier than himself. However, he managed to flutter his eyes. He was in a different place from the last he remembered.

Ranma tried and was successful in turning his head to find out where he really was. He realized he was in one of Dr. Tofu's room for the patients, and dextrose was applied to him. That was the dripping liquid from the pack, moving through the tube, to the needle inserted to his flesh, and into his veins. His sense of hearing was still as good as before.

But the dextrose wasn't the source of the pulses. He looked again and saw that it was a hand holding his.

The hand belonged to Akane Tendo.

She was sitting on a chair beside the bed, and her head was just beside his on the pillow that smelled strongly of alcohol. He saw in her expression that she was very tired, yet she was still holding his hand as if to assure him that everything was going to be okay and she'll always be there for him.

"A-Akane…" he whispered hoarsely.

She stirred.

"Akane…" he repeated, his voice no better than before. He tried to squeeze her hand, but all that came out was a little twitch of his thumb.

It was enough for Akane, though. She hastily opened her eyes and sighed worriedly. "Ranma!"

"Akane, y-you're here…"

"Of course I'm here," Akane breathed, teary-eyed. "Don't you _dare_ do that to me again! You've been unconscious for a week! We had to feed you through _that_ to keep you alive," she glanced at the pack of dextrose. "Your three fiancées were here and they all tried to help, but you were still out cold… even Dr. Tofu said just had to wait… you just don't know… oh, Ranma!" She sobbed and buried her head in the corner of Ranma's head and shoulder, not removing her hand interlocked with his.

"Please don't… cry…" Ranma was having difficulty speaking. He was very weak, like he came from some battle in the old English period, the type where the warriors fought in sword combat.

Akane sat on the space beside Ranma on the bed and looked at him. "How could I not? They all thought…" her voice broke off. "But I didn't – I knew you'd be okay. You just had to have the thing you needed to be all right."

"Baka…" Ranma blurted out faintly. Instead of grimacing, Akane smiled, seeing that Ranma was somehow back to himself. Ranma lifted his hand with difficulty and gently stroked her face. "I only needed… you."

Akane didn't say anything.

_Ranma, we… we already said goodbye, right?_

_Please don't make it hard for me… whenever you do these things, I completely forget everything and melt upon hearing your words. Then it would just turn out to be a joke to tease me, so my heart breaks!_

_I don't want to go over it again. You and I are just friends. And I have Ryouga now – I've sworn to myself to love him, because he loves me so much and I know he'd never hurt me, unlike what you did. I need someone who could love me, Ranma, not someone who does otherwise._

_What makes it bad is that no matter how you break it, my heart still calls out your name! It screams for you to love me back, because it has loved you for so long. Even though I know I should be in love with Ryouga, I couldn't help thinking that you've told me how you felt. However, I realize it's too late. I don't want to go back anymore. _

_But you're making me._

_Please don't do this…_

"No, it's not me you need," Akane replied hastily. "It's Shampoo. Or Ukyou. Or Kodachi. Not me. You want me to call them? I'm sure they want to know that you've regained consciousness. You know, they didn't like the idea of me watching over you because we had a d– Oh, I mean, they wanted to be the ones to look after you. But I assured them we were just friends now, so they agreed."

Ranma withdrew his hand from Akane's face, but he still looked straight into her eyes. "Why won't you just say it? I-I don't care about them, they're nothing compared to what I want to hear… from you."

"I…"

"Ohayou," greeted the voices of two males. Dr. Tofu and Ryouga were entering the room when they saw that Ranma had regained consciousness.

"Ranma, you're awake now!" Ryouga exclaimed as he closed the door behind him. "You don't know how much you've worried everyone." He went beside the bed near Akane and held her shoulders. "Everything fine, Akane?"

"Y-yes."

"Hmm… that's nice recovery, Ranma. You're getting your color back. Don't worry, you'll be out of here soon."

"Thanks, Dr. Tofu," Ranma managed to say a little cheerfully.

Just then, the window burst open and black rose petals flew around the room.

"Ahahahahah!"

It was spine chilling. Akane abruptly got up from the bed and stepped back beside Ryouga.

"Ranma-sama, you've awakened! Are you completely fine now? I'll send first-class–"

"No, I'm okay," Ranma interrupted her. When Kodachi took his hand, he couldn't move it back. Kodachi leaned in for a kiss when Ranma whispered a name that made her eyebrows twitch.

"Akane…"

The leotard-clad gymnast shot Akane a stern look. "Our deal," she mouthed, her eyes glinting dangerously.

Akane nodded.

"Nihao, Ranma!" The door crashed open and in came Shampoo carrying a delivery box. "Shampoo bring ramen for airen!"

"No thanks, Shampoo… I-I'm full."

"But you not eat in one week now!" the Amazon reasoned. "And what that lunatic doing, holding your hand?" she asked angrily, referring to Kodachi.

"Not h-hungry."

Suddenly, another girl's voice entered the room. "Ran-chan!"

_Kami,_ Akane called out to the above, _humor me. Is this another one of those awful fiancé reunions? Tell me! Because if it's not, I'll do an African tribal dance of joy in front of all these people._

Ukyou brought with her the delicious smell of okonomiyaki. She brought out her spatula and hit Shampoo on the head and dragged Kodachi away with it. "Ucchan at your service!"

"I'm n-not hungry!" Ranma tried to explain to the three women, but they were all forcing in on him.

Akane decided to leave and Ryouga followed her. She was almost out of the room when Ranma, with every ounce of his remaining energy, called out her name.

"Akane!"

It wasn't much of a shout – it was feeble – but everyone heard it. The three fiancées all shot her warning looks.

"Surely you haven't forgotten our deal, Akane?" asked Ukyou, her spatula shining hazardously in the light.

"No, I haven't," Akane said simply. She closed the door behind her.

Ranma wondered what that deal was as he asked Dr. Tofu to make his visitors leave him so he could get some peace. Dr. Tofu wasn't successful because the girls wouldn't listen to him, so Ranma ended up eating Shampoo's and Ukyou's cooking, and a whole turkey courtesy of Sasuke's instant delivery.

Ryouga, however, knew a little something about the deal. He remembered Akane saying something about it when he was P-chan – it was part of a plan… _the_ plan.

"Akane-san," he began as they made the walk home.

"Hm?" Akane asked, not looking at him, but down the pavement instead.

"What was that deal about?"

"Huh?"

It definitely caught Akane's attention. She had no intention of telling him. And besides, she's abandoned her plan when she realized that it was doing more damage than good. She even forgot about the deals she made with the three fiancées.

"The deal? That was nothing. We were just… oh, it's not important," Akane scoffed, her tone indicating that she's not doing any more talking.

_Boy, I'm in hotter water now._

* * *

**Author's Notes:** The song Akane sang in the bar is Josh Groban's When _You Say You Love Me_. I thought I'd add a little interpretation of the song from Akane's viewpoint, and it turned out quite nicely, I guess. (",) 


	6. Voices In Her Head

**Disclaimer:** Not mine, not yours, but hers. You don't have to shove it to my face, you know.

* * *

**Changed Overnight**

**Chapter Six: Voices In Her Head**

A young lady of sixteen found herself squinting at the sun as it rose on a Saturday morning, almost a week after the course of her life changed when her feelings for the person whom she thought was just a naïve friend altered how she felt about her fiancé.

She leaned on the balustrades of the small balcony just outside her room and breathed in the cold, fresh air. She heard some birds twittering not too far away, and when they came into the view, she gazed longingly at them. Flying, carefree, unbound, living a simple life of hunting, eating, and sleeping. Free.

_Why can't I be just like the birds?_

_They don't have human emotions. They can't feel sadness that easily unless they experience a grave loss like losing their nestlings. But heck, they just forget about it after all! They don't really experience love. They just mate, and boom – a family._

_Why can't my life be as easy as that?_

Her lower lip trembled, and she felt a trickle of tear roll down her cheeks. A week ago, she felt she had moved on to a new stage of her life – without the insensitive fiancé, but with a very good guy by her side who'd surely be her one-member support crew.

But when Ranma got sick for some reason she doesn't want to think about, realizations came pounding to her head like heavy raindrops on the roof on a storm. Her heart changed color so quickly, but doubts were always there.

Sometimes she felt she should try loving Ranma again, because maybe now that he's probably realized his loss, he's isn't going to be insensible to her anymore. But if she did, she'd have led Ryouga to false hopes about their love taking a step further. She did love him for a while, but that was when she thought her love for Ranma would never be recognized.

Damn, she was a… a player.

Akane didn't know what to do, and burst into tears that early morning.

* * *

"Breakfast!" Kasumi called from downstairs.

In a few minutes, Akane had already washed, tidied herself, and put on a nice-looking summer dress. She went downstairs and settled down by the breakfast table and noticed that someone was missing.

"Where's Ryouga?"

She didn't notice Ranma flinch when she asked the question.

"He told me he was just going to breathe some fresh air a while ago. But you know him, he gets lost all the time, even in the lawn. Maybe he'll find himself in _Hawaii_," Nabiki laughed as she ate.

Although Akane was a bit worried, she found herself not really caring about it. She felt guilty as she reached for the rice bowl that she didn't know that someone else was holding it. Ranma looked as surprised as her.

She quickly let go, and so did Ranma. Genma ended up grabbing it and emptying its contents.

"You're off your guard, boy," Genma burbled, his mouth stuffed with food.

Ranma didn't care or answer back, or grabbed the pickles on his father's plate. He was busy summing up courage in his mind and guts. He was busy pushing himself with what he was going to do. He was busy thinking of what to say. Now that the opportunity came, he was not letting go of it. He knew that Ryouga would be very hurt and that he'll probably kill himself – poor guy – but Ranma had to do something with his feelings which kept growing and growing in his chest by the minute… or it's him who'd get killed. And he probably won't even have to commit suicide then.

* * *

She yawned and looked around. "Whoah… where are you guys?" she called out as she roamed around the house with her naked feet. Akane only took a short nap after breakfast and woke up to find the house deserted.

"They've gone out," Ranma's voice answered from somewhere.

"Where did they go? And where are you?"

"Our dads went on some trip again. Kasumi went to the market, and Nabiki went shopping with her friends. Me… well, I'm here."

Ranma appeared in the dining area, dropping from somewhere above the roof outside.

"Oh," Akane managed to say. Then she took a deep breath and exhaled gently.

_A day with Ranma with the house? I don't know… I mean, he just got sick because of me. Or because of Ryouga being with me. Or, you know. Something. Kami, I don't want to think about it…_

Ranma was watching her, but when she looked at him, he faced away. "I guess… I'll just bake some cookies or something."

He choked on air when he heard what she said. Akane glared at him. "I know how to cook now, you know. Sayuri and Yuka actually said my cookies weren't bad at school."

She stomped to the kitchen where she started making dough and preparing chocolate chips. Ranma followed inside, watching her silently with an expression one might say of curiosity.

"You sure they're gonna taste okay?" Ranma cautiously asked when Akane was putting the cookies into the oven already.

"Of course they are," Akane replied with a snobby air. Then her face softened. "Ryouga loved them so much when I made a batch a few days ago."

This made Ranma's heart hurt, as like many other times he saw Ryouga and Akane together for the past two weeks. But he was getting quite used to it that it didn't seem to matter anymore. He just wallowed in his misery, which he knew wasn't a very positive way to recover… but he couldn't help it if the girl he loves belonged to someone else, for crying out loud.

Well, today it did. It mattered.

"Now. Time for me to taste the famed ones, right?" Ranma suggested, grinning.

Akane looked at him like he was a… crabby old man turned into a clown. "Are you sick again?" she asked, but quickly regretted asking it because it brought back the memories of what happened a week ago – Ranma saying that he needed her. She didn't want to go back there because for the past week they've been sharing neutrality between each other; they didn't really talk.

_And… well, I guess things were better that way._

Ranma noticed her reaction and seemed to read her thoughts that time, but he didn't let it turn serious again or he'd have lost his chance today. "No, I ain't sick," he replied simply, sitting on the table kitchen counter beside the spot where Akane was leaning. "Ya know, you've always been chasing me with your cooking. You gave me stomachaches with your cookies, but now's your chance to get me to taste them and change my opinion… forever."

She raised her eyebrows suspiciously and faced him. Then she shrugged her shoulders. "Right…"

When the oven rang, Akane carefully served the cookies on a plate. "Great!" She was absolutely sure they were _perfect_.

"Great!" Ranma echoed. He got off the table and said, "Now can I have some?"

Akane smiled with a challenging look on her face.

And heck, she didn't know why she acted the way she was just about to – maybe she was just missing moments like these, maybe another soul took over her body, or maybe it was just meant to happen.

"No, you'll have to catch me," she giggled before sprinting upstairs into her room, not giving Ranma time to complain. She slammed the door but didn't hear it close.

"Oi, that was unfair!" Ranma's voice whined. "I thought you wanted me to have some!"

Akane smiled. She sat on her bed and stretched out the plate of cookies to Ranma, who closed the door behind him and popped a cookie in his mouth. As he chewed, he plopped on the bed beside her and scrunched his face up as if he was deciding the taste.

She eyed him curiously, waiting for the diagnosis.

Ranma put his hand on Akane's shoulder. "Not bad," he said.

Akane beamed. "Really?"

"The best."

Akane was more than contented when she watched Ranma pop one cookie after another in his mouth. Memories of the times Ranma had made her feel this way – very, very happy – played in her head. It was like the times he hurt her didn't exist, that they were just some product of her crabby imagination to ruin her happy moments.

"Akane."

She remembered the time when she climbed a tall pine tree because she sprouted hair on her face, a side effect of the food she ate that made her too strong. She was crying, and Ranma followed her up the tree to give her the antidote that cured her. She took it and apologized to Ranma as she sobbed. Ranma said, grinning, "Now that's the Akane I know."

"Akane?"

There was one time when Ranma got scratches all over his face because of some trouble with cats, and a band-aid was put on his nose. It happened to belong to Happosai – that meant it wasn't a normal band-aid. Indeed, it wasn't, because it had love potion in it. Ranma had flirted with every girl he saw, and all his fiancées quarreled in an abandoned construction site. Akane was hit and fell down from a high spot, but Ranma found himself lunging below to save her. He ended up saying Akane was cute… and he didn't have the band-aid on his nose anymore. The other fiancés went sour graping home.

Akane smiled.

"Akane!"

She snapped out of it. After looking at Ranma, and realized that she's been staring at him the whole time. "S-sorry," she muttered.

"You've been drifting off these days, I've noticed," Ranma said, looking straight at her eyes.

"Oh," Akane muttered, evading his stare. "I have, haven't I?"

"Something's wrong, isn't it?"

"No," she replied quickly. "I was just… thinking about school. You know – those circle equations and all that."

There was something very different about Ranma, Akane noticed. He wasn't the pleading child she knew a week ago. There was no trace of weakness or being bedridden for days in his face or body – like he had a goal, and had prepared for it. She decided to steal a glance from his eyes. It took her one second to recognize the look of verve. She quickly looked away because she feared that the more they locked eyes with each other, the more he could see into her and know what she felt at the moment.

"Akane, even a straight-A student like you won't think about circle equations when something, like last week, happened. I know you, Akane…" Ranma held her chin gently and made her look at him. "And I know what's bothering you."

She waved his hand away and looked down on the floor. "Nothing's bothering me." Akane got up from her bed, walked across the room and was about to open the door, but she felt Ranma's hand grab her wrist.

Oh, not this grabbing-the-wrist thing again…

"Akane, why can't you just say it?" Ranma asked, getting up.

"Say what?" Akane, who was too concerned about words to worry about Ranma holding her wrist, asked back.

"Say that you just wanted to be loved back in return so you told yourself that you love Ryouga," Ranma replied.

He gulped. _Here goes…_

"What are you saying?" Akane was definitely baffled.

Ranma continued. "Say that you don't love him after all, that you were just confused that time because of… because of what I've been doing that made you feel… well, bad. That right now, you don't know what to do because your love for Ryouga's gone after a short time, and you don't want to hurt him because he's been doing nothing but loving you from the first time he met you. That, in simple words, you really just don't love him anymore."

It sounded like Ranma had rehearsed these words, and Akane never even had time to think about anything to say, except, "No!"

Ranma let go of her wrist, only to hold her shoulders with both his hands. "_Yes_, Akane."

"No!" She was teary-eyed and sobbing when she said, "I… _I love Ryouga_. And I don't want anybody, not even someone like you to–"

"Someone like me? Who am I in your life, anyway?" Ranma asked, not letting go of her shoulders, his gaze piercing hers.

"You're… y-you're…"

At this moment Akane had to stop. She had to stop because she knew exactly what he was to her. She wanted to shout, "You're everything to me, that's who you are! Damn you Ranma, you've stolen my heart, broken it countless of times, made me feel the world hated me, made me feel it's my destiny to die alone, but I always kept trying to change you and I never ceased to believe you would, all because I've loved you more than I have loved anyone in my whole life!"

She wanted to. But she didn't.

"You're _bullshit_," she said above it all, and turned to leave.

Akane was out of the door when she felt Ranma's hand holding her wrist. She tugged, but he tugged back.

"Ranma, let go!"

"No. All you do is shout all that crap about being hurt when I'm there, but come on! I've apologized for all that, and now that you know how I really feel about you, it's _you_ who's become senseless! Akane, I love you. And I know you love me too…"

A split second later, there was a slapping sound as Ranma felt a painful sting on the right side of his face, which turned numb in a moment. Akane had felt angrier than ever. "How _dare_ you say that! After what you have done to me! Geez, you're so…"

She broke off as Ranma's grip on her wrist loosened. Taking her chance, she went out of the door and almost reached the stairs when Ranma's voice stopped her.

"Yes, I _dare_ say that!" he sniped, appearing behind her. "And whatever I have done, I have apologized for already – more than I ought to have. But still you aren't contented! What's the problem with you, Akane? You aren't the same girl I used to know – the girl with the bad temper who could easily change to be as sweet as honey… the girl who always did everything to make everybody happy. Where did that girl go?"

"Ranma," Akane said in a tone Ranma couldn't decipher. "I'm not falling for that trick again. You can't say the same lines. Then what, you treat me to ice cream like what you did the last time? And don't say you've apologized more than you should have, because you might say you're sorry your whole lifetime and still wouldn't make up for it!"

Akane saw something different in Ranma's eyes. Something like…

"That's _it_! You know what you are, Akane? You're selfish! You think about yourself, and nobody else – all you care about is how you feel and how much you've been hurt. You always convince yourself that the hurt will never go away your whole life while I'm trying more than my best to get you to change that mentality! That's what you are – SELFISH!"

Ranma's heart started beating double time… what he just said, he never rehearsed. He never even imagined _saying_ all those things to her, but there were just times when… the truth cannot be stopped.

Akane wanted to cry, but she tried to cover it up by showing anger in her eyes. She ran all the way downstairs out of the front door, put on the first pair of footwear she could find, and kept running toward nowhere.

As Akane's figure disappeared, a teardrop from Ranma's eye fell on the wooden floor as he clutched his ruined stomach.

_Akane no baka! Always been like that, huh? Running away, like what you've been doing all your life…_

* * *

_Why?_

_He's supposed to be the unwise one. The dumb one. He doesn't know a thing about how I feel. He doesn't know _anything

_Yet how come this time, he sounded right?_

_Am I really selfish?_

Akane thought of the time Ranma said she's made a fool out of him. She had begged for him to stop saying it, yet he kept on shouting insisting it was true. He made her look evil. The nerve of him! It wasn't her fault if she loved another guy because he was so insensitive! He never took importance of her, and then he was the one who got mad!

_Give me a break! I don't see myself being selfish there at all. He's the one who's been thinking about his feelings, not me. I have the right to love another guy!_

Akane felt her muscles tighten. She just realized something – and it was not good.

"Kami-sama…" she muttered.

If she _loved another guy_, that meant she had loved someone _before_. That meant she did learn to love Ranma! No, it wasn't good. The last time she thought of this… yes, she thought it was good to finally know her feelings for him. But not now.

Ranma was right, she was selfish. She kept thinking about herself – her pride, her self-importance. The guy comes to her; she doesn't come to him. But love was supposed to be a relationship where the people both benefited! They do not keep secrets, they do not hold back. If Akane was really in love with Ranma then she should've told him. She knew that he loved her back. But she didn't tell him how she felt because all she thought of was her pride. Her once broken heart. She was afraid to break it again.

How could she not be afraid? Ranma was always pursued by all those girls – crazy amazons, gymnasts, cooks… and she would have thought she's the last on the list if Ranma didn't… if he didn't say he loved her.

"But he's hurt me so much before!" Akane kept insisting to herself.

"Oh, but that was _before_," a voice in her head spoke. "And what he said was really true – he's apologized to you already, more than he ought to have. If he were any other person in your life, he would have given up on making you change your crooked thinking. But he didn't, because he loves you. You're just too self-absorbed to notice it."

Akane, not even wondering where the voice came from, answered back. "I'm not self-absorbed! I perfectly know he loves me!"

"Then what's keeping you?"

"Well…" Akane started. Then she didn't know what to say next.

"Yeah, sweetie, that's what we actually call _human pride_. Monstrous thing, that one."

Akane didn't care if she was going crazy talking to an imaginary voice.

"Pride. Okay, let's say I set that aside for a second. Then what? I still feel hurt. I don't think it's pride anymore. I think Ranma's done a lot of hurtful things to me in the past, that no matter what he does – and what I do – to forget them, the pain is still there!"

"Oh goodness, stop yapping about the pain!" the voice replied exasperatedly. "You know what I think? That is just some drama you're having. A drama that you think is real. If you really want the both of you to go a step further, then forget the drama because it's holding you back. See, Ranma obviously has the drama thing, too. But I can sense that he's trying to set that aside. And you know what? It's actually doing him progress like what happened a while ago with your horrible cookies–"

"My cookies _weren't_ horrible! I've learned how to make very good ones!"

"Nah. The sugar and the salt looked the same, so instead of putting sugar, you used salt," the voice explained disapprovingly.

"And he still ate them?" Akane asked in awe.

"Just like what he did with you horrible cooking in the past," the lackadaisical voice noted. "And it actually took a voice to make you realize that?" it chuckled. "Major pride case here."

Akane was speechless for a second. She looked up at the bright blue sky, all the way down from the wooden bench she was sitting on in the park. For once, the right realization came upon her: Ranma doesn't just care or love her, he _worships_ her. Okay, maybe worship is too strong a word. Let's just say he loves her so much that he doesn't really care about what happens to himself as long as she's okay.

And that touched Akane's heart like never before.

"I'm sorry, Ranma…" she spoke to herself.

"Yeah, but what about Ryou–" the voice was about to say something, but it was muffled by some force.

As if she didn't hear anything, Akane got up and went back home – to look for Ranma and finally say the things she wanted to say.

When Akane was gone, the middle Tendo holding a pencil and a notebook full of notes (actually, they were the lines the voice had spoke to Akane) emerged from the bushes behind the bench.

"Mission accomplished, my friend," Nabiki Tendo said in triumph, sitting on the bench Akane had left.

"Why did we have to use _my_ voice?" Another person whined. She sat beside Nabiki on the bench, pouting.

"Because she very well knows mine. I'm her sister, dorkus. But thanks," Nabiki said with her all-knowing smile, "Ukyou."

"Ugh, I don't know what I just did… I actually helped make Akane and Ranma a couple again. What would happen to Ranma and me, huh? I need to get him back!"

Nabiki Tendo thumped the chef's head with her fist. "Ukyou, you just made them a couple. And then you're breaking them up? _Baka_…"

Ukyou massaged her head. "No… but I do love Ranma. Seeing him with Akane hurts. And," her voice became stronger, "have you ever had that feeling? Like your heart's being torn in two when you see the love of you life in another girl's arms, especially if you know very well that you're supposed to be that girl?"

"Jeez, stop being hysterical."

"But Akane and I had a deal!"

"A deal?" Nabiki was interested about it. Her definition of deal involved money.

"Yes," Ukyou went, forgetting that this was supposed to be clandestine. "A few weeks ago, Akane went up to me and said that she wanted to avoid Ranma, and I was supposed to keep them away from each other. I tried to do that, but I really haven't talked to Ranma since then. Whenever we had recess and lunch in school, he was with his guy friends, huddled in some private conversation. I interrupted them a couple of times, but they seemed irritated, and I didn't want Ranma to be irritated with me. And in dismissal, Ranma was always gone early, along with Akane. Maybe he'd gone looking for her because back then, the thing about Akane's dance lessons was still a secret."

"So…?" Nabiki didn't know where this led.

"So no matter how Akane avoided him, and no matter how I want to keep Ranma away from her, they would still get together somehow, one way or another!"

"Like right _now_?"

"_Like right now!"_ Ukyou started sobbing.

Nabiki was silent for a while, listening to Ukyou's sobs. "You're going to have to make up your mind. If you're willing to love Ranma–"

"Of course I'm willing to love Ranma," Ukyou said.

"…even with knowing the fact that you can never be together," Nabiki continued pointedly, "then you bear the consequences. Would you want to be with a person whom you very well know isn't meant for you? Or would you just want to wish him well with his life with someone else, explicitly the girl he really loves – who is Akane?"

Ukyou had her head down. After a while, she went, "I must be _that_ kind, letting Ranma go like this…"

Mission accomplished again, Nabiki thought contentedly.


	7. Letting Go

**Disclaimer:** Not mine, not yours, but hers.

* * *

**Changed Overnight**

**Chapter Seven: Letting Go**

Akane hurried back to the dojo to apologize to Ranma, to tell him the she really has been too proud… She didn't care what street she took, or whoever she would meet – may it be Heath Ledger – but her instincts kept telling her to go to Ranma before it was too late. Yes, he'd been chasing her, but the tone of his voice a moment ago told her that he was giving up when Akane had hopelessly stuck to her twisted thinking.

Her eyes had been opened. The doubts in her heart were gone. She wanted Ranma _now_. She didn't even think about Ryouga, or the stupid deals she made with the insane trio of Ranma's other fiancées.

This time she wasn't messing it up.

"Ahahahahah!" the mad laugh of Kodachi rang from somewhere. It took Akane a while to realize that she was passing by the street of the Kunos' manor.

"Oh, jeez…" Akane muttered as she skidded into a halt. "Hi," she greeted Kodachi.

The gymnast landed on her two feet, twirling around her sticks and knickknacks. "So, Akane Tendo," she went as she started circling Akane like a shark focusing on its prey. "Do you remember what we just had?"

"A fight?" Akane asked in a bored voice.

"No, Miss Tendo. We had a deal. About Ranma."

Of course Akane remembered. The moment she explained everything to Ranma upon having changed her insight, she planned to break it with the three ladies. "Oh, yeah, the deal."

"_Remember_?"

"Yes, I do," Akane said as she sprinted away. "By the way, it's off!"

"Ahahahahahahah!" Kodachi's laugh followed her.

_And she's still laughing? Crazed baka!_

Kodachi landed right in front of her. "What do you want _now_?" Akane asked, annoyed.

"I want Ranma-sama," Kodachi answered curtly. She took out her whip and tried to hit Akane with it, but the martial artist was fast.

Akane realized that she was wearing a powder blue summer dress, and guess what? Stilettos. Yes, she was going to have to fight with those stilettos on. _Boy, this is going to be hard_, Akane thought, making a mental note to slip her feet into the right shoes (before running away from a particularly dramatic scene in her life), maybe have a separate shoe rack as not to mix her comfy footwear with Nabiki's sophisticated ones.

A couple of times Kodachi tried to lash Akane's skin, with her matching laugh of course, to no avail. She threw away her whip and balled her hands into fists. "Let's just do this woman-to-woman, shall we?"

"No problem!" Akane exclaimed as she successfully landed a punch on Kodachi's stomach after Kodachi actually leaped towards her. "Black Rose," she said as Kodachi fell to the ground, "laughter may not be the best medicine this time."

"Tendo Akane!"

"Oh, for heaven's sake!"

"Fret not, for I, Tatewaki Kuno,the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High School, am here to save thee from my despicable sister!" Kuno ran towards Akane, only to be met by the two-inch heel of her stiletto.

"You're just _as despicable as her_."

"What about the kiss that the two of us shared with our looooooooove…?"

He flew away to Neverland after that kick.

"_What_ kiss?" Akane yelled after him. "Kami-sama, I am going to worship you everyday if you won't let these people bug me again…"

As if energized by the attack of the crazy Kunos, she ran even faster to the dojo. She couldn't wait to tell Ranma everything!

"Ranma!" Akane called as she slammed the door to her house open. "Ranma, I'm sorry!" She looked in the kitchen, the dining room, the bathroom – everywhere. He wasn't there.

"_Ranma, where are you?"_ Akane was shouting frantically as she looked inside the dojo. "R-Ranma…"

She went outside the vicinity of the dojo and proceeded to Ucchan's, but it was closed. She even peeked inside but saw nobody.

Then it struck her.

Where else would Ranma hang out if Ucchan's was not open?

Cat Restaurant. The place that she detested to visit.

With every ounce of determination she had, Akane went to Shampoo's place – and she was right. Ranma was there, eating a bowl of noodles. And he didn't look upset, until he saw her. His face scrunched into a frown.

"What are you doing here?" he asked her.

_Oh, okay,_ Akane thought. _Now _he's_ mad._

"I… I wanted to apologize."

"Get out," he said sternly.

Akane froze. She couldn't believe he just said that. Did he really?

"What did you say?" she asked, hoping that what she heard was just a figment of her imagination.

"I said, get out. Now you're deaf, too?" he snapped, then smirked. Shampoo was just by the counter, observing the scene, a malicious smile painted on her lips.

"No!" Akane cried. "So now it's back to square one? Ranma, look, I'm sorry. I… I have been so narrow-minded before. I'm sorry for being the baka that you've always called me. I'm sorry for being such a bad… such a bad fiancé, and… I-I'm just really, really sorry."

Her eyes had every trace of sincerity and remorse. And this time, she was sure it was going to be okay. She was sure that Ranma would forgive her, because he always did. Ranma would forgive her and they would live happily ever after. It would be a happy ending.

Right?

"Well… I'm sorry, too," Ranma said.

She knew it!

"Really?" Akane's eyes lit up like two beautiful candles, each with hope sparkling in it.

"Yes. I'm sorry because I can't forgive you."

"What?" No way. No way had she heard it right. She was hearing the wrong things. Ranma can never, ever say that to her. She was Akane! Ranma can never _not_ forgive Akane.

"Get this straight, okay?" Ranma talked slowly, like he had difficulty speaking in straight Japanese. Akane thought that maybe it was hard for him to say all those harsh words to her, but she figured that he just wanted to emphasize them. "I don't want anything to do with you. You're just a silly little… hentai… a barbarian who doesn't know how to cook, who'd kill anybody out of instinct! You're a kawaiikune… baka… you've always been, and you will always be. Ra–… I mean, _I_ could never possibly love you! And I never did, got that?"

There was a silent moment of nerves. Shampoo didn't say anything. And nor did Akane, for a few seconds. She kept staring at Ranma. No, this guy wasn't Ranma, he was… someone else. This can't be happening!

But of course, something told her that the guy really was Ranma. Wasn't he the one who broke her heart countless of times before? Of course he could do it again anytime. He just did it now.

Thus, Akane's heart was broken again.

But not without letting him know her pain, her fury, her sorrow.

"DAMN YOU, RANMA!" Akane screamed, then slapped Ranma hard on his cheek.

"Hentai-girl! I kill!"

Akane didn't even process what Ranma just said to her. She ran out of the restaurant. She found herself running like she did a while ago when she wanted to tell Ranma how she really felt about him, that she loved him.

But not now. She hated him with all her body, mind, soul… and heart.

Funny how the world changes fast, right?

Not.

She kept running. This time, not to the dojo. Not anywhere, actually. She just ran for her dear life. Because if she stopped running, she was sure her heart would stop beating. Then she would die, like any other girl who had her heart broken because the guy she loved had made breaking her heart a hobby.

* * *

After Akane's slap, Ranma's face deformed – literally. His cheek almost stuck to his forehead.

"Grandmother, it hurt!"

"Yes, Shampoo. That human plaster I got from China worked, but it is really sensitive. That's why I told you not to touch your face."

"But it hurt!"

"Don't worry. It's all worth it."

Cologne drank some water – and guess what? Her body of the tall Shampoo shrank into her normal old ghoul size. 'Ranma' drank some water too and transformed into Shampoo.

"Hentai-girl pay. Shampoo mad!"

"Well, it's up to you. But I feel sorry for the girl – if I were you I'll just let her go. She just lost Ranma to you."

"Yes, that true. But hentai-girl still _pay_."

* * *

Akane found herself sobbing her heart out on the same bench she ran away from a while ago in the park.

_Where is that voice when I need it?_

She knew she was not making sense, wanting to talk to some voice that she didn't even know truly existed. But on the other hand, she figured that nothing made sense anymore – and it was all because of Ranma. If he never came into her life, she wouldn't be as miserable as she is now! She wouldn't have had her heart broken! She wouldn't have felt so guilty, then feel that she was the victim!

Oh, how she hated him.

But hate wasn't the emotion that stood up from all the others. She felt… unhappy. She was lonely, alone and helpless. All she did was cry her heart out on the bench, her face buried in her hands. She didn't even care about – or notice, at that – the good people passing by who tried to talk to her and stop her from crying.

Then she felt a hand slowly crawl behind her shoulders. It embraced her. She snuggled up; she had no willpower to say no. And the person's chest felt warm, too…

Despite her hatred, despite how hurt she was, the first word that came out of her mouth was, "_Ranma_…"

The person embracing her froze.

A millisecond later, she didn't feel the embrace anymore. Akane didn't see anybody when she looked up. She only heard something being hit by the jet of the water sprinkler, then a "Bwee!"

P-chan ran away.

* * *

"That's _it_! You know what you are, Akane? You're selfish! You think about yourself, and nobody else – all you care about is how you feel and how much you've been hurt. You always convince yourself that the hurt will never go away your whole life while I am trying more than my best to get you to change that mentality! That's what you are – SELFISH!"

The words he said to the girl he loved more than anyone in his life echoed in his head.

Yes, they were harsh. They were so hard that Ranma thought he hurt himself more with saying it than Akane was. But Akane needed that – something to pull her into the reality that she is not a saint, and that she's made terrible mistakes, too.

Yes, he had been so hurtful, he couldn't deny it. But Akane was human, and that's why she makes mistakes. She easily gets mad with her short temper. She easily assumes. She acts on impulse. Human flaws.

Then Ranma understood the quote of some historic someone that "Flawed is perfect."

Long has he desired to be finally together with that kawaii little lady, so full of passion and, well, innocence. She always wanted to show that she knew everything, but she's actually a little child in his eyes despite the fact that they were the same age and that sometimes she even acts older than he does. That's why he needed to protect her all the time. But he can't always do it forever, because when there is a beginning, there is an end.

His life in Nerima began with a huge dagger that stabbed his life – he was engaged to this tomboy who was such a baka in everything she did. She was the youngest of three daughters of Soun Tendo, owner of the Tendo Dojo. Yes, she was… somewhat pretty when he first saw her. But her attitude turned out to be too extreme. She was tremendously short-tempered and proud.

Ranma never thought the time would come that he'd fall for Akane. But he did. He fell so badly that it ate his heart out. All day, all night, all he could ever think of was her. He always insisted to everybody that he was totally focused on martial arts, and that Akane was an evil advocate of a horrible cooking demon.

He always kept his guard up against accusations of being too soft and weak. What he did was become cynical in everything related with Akane. He had every bone and nerve in his body dedicated to offending Akane to prevent everybody from knowing he had fallen in love with her (That's what I get from having been separated from civilization my whole childhood – a crooked way of thinking). But of course, as her fiancé, he had to protect and save her when she got in trouble – which happened very often on account of her being very hard-headed and all. Those were the times that he could show how he loved this girl, and sometimes he even forgot he was supposed to be mocking her. He couldn't help showing that she was the most important person for him on the face of the mad earth.

In the past, he's tried to hide his feelings. Then he started showing them. Then Ryouga came at the wrong time. Then he finally revealed what he felt and got into a lot of trouble for it.

And now he was letting her go.

_People would actually cry when they hear my story._

_Cry when they start thinking about how pathetic I am, doing this. Letting go of Akane, I mean. We've been fiancées for almost a year. We've been together through good or bad, through happy times and sad times, through anger and peace. I bore with her, she bore with me. Kind of like a married couple, really._

_Then she gave up._

_She turned her back on me and took another road – one that led to Ryouga. And she was happy. Or at least, she obviously convinced herself to be. All because of me, because I've hurt her so many times. I knew she was pretending. I told her so, but she wouldn't admit it! She was even angry with me, and I don't blame her; she has the right to because I've been such a jerk. Sometimes I feel the same – she could really be an idiot most of the time. But no matter how I try, I find myself thinking I'm the real baka. It's–_

"OOOWW!" Ranma shouted in pain. A coconut fell out of nowhere onto his head. "Kami-sama, _where_ the heck did that come from?" He massaged his head and looked above him. It was just impossible; he was sitting on the fence in the far side of the park and there were no trees above him!

Then it hit him.

LET GO OF HER. She'll be free, you'll be free, and you might as well have erased your signature in the invisible engagement contract the day you didn't oppose when Akane told you she was going to tell their parents that the engagement was broken.

It only took a _coconut_.

Again, he didn't know that Soun and Genma didn't give their consent to Akane's motion to break the engagement. Yes, Akane was assuming… but it was much later on that he realized that he was, too.

* * *

Akane headed back to her house and locked herself in her room.

Fate is really underhanded. Conniving. Dastardly. Why do these things happen to love stories all the time, anyway? Boy meets Girl. Girl shows she hates Boy. So Boy hates Girl, too. Then Girl meets Guy. Boy gets jealous and tells Girl he loves her. Girl shows she hates him still, but deep inside she loves him already. When Guy gets out of the scene, Girl realizes she really loves Boy and tells him so, only to be faced by rejection because she's too late.

"_When you say you love me_

_The world goes still, so still inside and_

_When you say you love me_

_For a moment, there's no one else alive…"_

Akane began to cry after singing her song with a shaky voice.

Someone knocked at the door. "Akane?" called the voice of Kasumi. "May I come in?"

Akane wiped her tears. "Uhm… yeah, sure." She unlocked the door, quickly went back to her bed and got hold of the nearest book she could find.

Kasumi went in and closed the door behind her. "Hey," she greeted, sitting beside her sister on the bed. "I just got back from the market. I heard someone sniffing from up here."

"It's nothing," Akane smiled. Then her nose dripped, so she had to sniff.

Kasumi smiled back at her littler sister and put her hand on her shoulder. "Akane, when you were little, you were always such a sweet girl."

Akane sniffed again.

"And you still are. When you were little, you were always happy. When you had problems, you would tell them to me, and then you would cry. Then I'd tell you it's going to be all right, and you go confront your problem. You always had the courage and will to make everything okay, that's why you rarely had sad moments in your childhood."

Akane felt her tears threatening to fall. _That was before. Now I don't even want to think about confronting my problem. I just did that, and look what it did to me…_

"Now please, tell me. I know when something's wrong."

Kasumi's voice was soothing. Whenever she talked to Akane, Akane would always feel everything was going to be okay. Her oldest sister's voice was like heaven.

"Kasumi onee-chan, I don't know what to do anymore," Akane started. "I've always thought that everything would be the same between Ranma and me – the way we always quarrelled about senseless things. I even started to think that this relationship with him is okay, because there's always constant communication, right? And even though there are times that we're really, really, angry with each other, everything would be all right because somehow he finds a way for me to stop getting mad. But this time, I don't think everything can ever be okay between the two of us…"

"Why?"

"I've been so cruel to him. And I even got together with… w-with Ryouga! Now that he's gone, I realize I don't really love him after all, and it was all a joke played by Fate. Ranma told me that I'm not really in love with Ryouga, and I denied it. Turns out he was right, and that happened to be the time that some advocate of Kami-sama – a voice – told me that I love Ranma, after all. All the false acts I've made in the past with Kuno, all the deals with Shampoo, Ukyo, and Kodachi… I never should have done them! Now it's too late… when I tried to talk to Ranma, he was angry with me. And I can't blame him because I've been such a… a… oh, Kasumi onee-chan!"

Akane sobbed profoundly as Kasumi embraced her. "Akane-chan, don't cry… Ranma's like that sometimes. He could be really proud when he wants to, because humans are like that. Don't worry, he'll apologize soon. Hush now…"

As Akane felt Kasumi's hands comforting her, something dawned upon her that made her situation seem much hopeless.

_Kasumi, for the first time, you're wrong…_

* * *

There was a flash of lightning in the six o'clock sky, then a rumble of thunder.

"Aw, man!" Ranma hurried to the nearest tree he could find. "_Kami_…" He couldn't do anything. He was wet. And he tried so hard for weeks not to be hit by cold water! He was now a she – a she with flaming red hair and a squat but well-formed body. She sighed hopelessly. "Well, it's no use being a guy, anyway."

"Wo da airen!" the shrill voice of Shampoo rang from a few yards away, together with the ring from the bell of her bicycle. She was holding an umbrella and stopped right in front of the tree where Ranma ran under. "Shampoo come pick airen up!"

"Where are we going?"

"Cat Restaurant! Grandma cook ramen. You want? Hurry, it rain!"

Ranma decided it wouldn't hurt to eat free food especially when she's just had a bombardment of bitter reality, so she came along with Shampoo.

After the ten-minute ride via bicycle in maximum speed (Shampoo had been, for some reason, in a hurry), they reached Cat Restaurant. Ranma staggered inside, dizzy.

"Oh, son-in-law, you're finally here," Cologne said, ushering the redhead onto the table where a hot bowl of ramen was waiting.

Ranma sat down and began to eat, all the while suspecting that Cologne had another plan to drug her or something equally heinous. But she was really, really hungry, especially with the fact that all she ever ate were some badly made cookies.

Cologne was watching her with wide, unblinking eyes that were so creepy. Shampoo, too, was looking at her interestedly from behind the counter she was leaning on.

"Oi, stop that!"

Cologne never blinked. "Akane was here a while ago."

"I don't care, just stop– …Akane?" Hearing the name Akane still had an effect on Ranma, which meant she wasn't quite over Akane yet. She had to know what Akane did here.

"Yes. She came barging in here and shouting your name."

"_Why_?" Ranma clung to every word the old hag said.

"She was really angry. She said she hated you. Then she ran away, probably to go look for you somewhere else."

It took Ranma a few seconds to realize it. Then she chuckled. "You know I would never fall for that." Really! What were these people thinking, that they could fool her? How stupid of them.

Cologne took out a tape recorder. And out played an unmistakable voice that was Akane's.

"DAMN YOU, RANMA!"

There was a sound of a slap, then the slamming of the door.

Cologne stopped playing the tape and looked at a speechless Ranma with a smile threatening to form on her lips. But the old woman stopped it, and said, "There, there."

Without a word, Ranma sat back down and finished her ramen as Shampoo and Cologne exchanged looks. "Gochiso-sama. Arigato." Then she went out of the door in the open rain and walked home alone in the dark streets.

"What do you think?" Cologne asked her granddaughter.

"I think have Ranma to myself now," Shampoo said.

"What about those other two girls?"

"They no problem."

Cologne nodded. She was proud of herself for cooking up this ingenious scheme. And she was proud of her granddaughter. Everything was going her way.

* * *

"Now come on, we'll cook dinner downstairs," Kasumi offered.

"Sure," Akane replied as her sister got up from the bed. "You go ahead, I'll just follow."

Kasumi went down and proceeded to the kitchen, and while walking down the stairs, she encountered someone she hasn't seen for a long time coming through the door of the house. She smiled. "Konbanwa, Ranma-chan. I see rain caught you."

Ranma nodded without a word.

The eldest Tendo proceeded to the kitchen and began preparing tonight's supper.

The redhead began walking up the stairs slowly with her eyes on the floor when she heard someone approaching from the upper floor. The sound of the footsteps stopped just above the stairs. She looked up.

_Akane_…

It's been a while since Akane saw the pigtailed girl. Despite the hurt she's been through just a while ago, she stood brave and walked down the stairs as if she didn't see Ranma.

And Ranma walked up the stairs and went into her room.


	8. Sisterly Love

**Author's Notes:** Happy New Year! (",)

**Disclaimer:** Not mine, not yours, but hers. It would have made the perfect Christmas gift, but unfortunately, nobody thought of that.

* * *

**Changed Overnight**

**Chapter Eight: Sisterly Love**

A hill of gold coins. No, mountains and MOUNTAINS of gold coins, diamonds, every precious gem there is, wads and wads of cash!

Nabiki Tendo laughed with all her heart's delight. Oh, the joys of living in this dream which she had been dreaming all her life!

And then there was Akane. Her sister. She was crying in a corner of Nabiki's dark dream. Yes, she had always been a barbarian even as a kid, but she had always loved her all the same. She didn't want to see her cry, especially now that she totally didn't deserve it.

Nabiki Tendo awoke with a start.

"Jeez! At first I was centered into becoming Bill Gates II, and now I'm becoming Mother Theresa!"

And then she thought twice.

_Nah. I'll let them resolve the problem by themselves. I'll be…. the angel sent from heaven in the end. An angel who'd probably demand something in return._

* * *

In the dining room, during lunch, Kasumi looked at everybody apologetically. "There was something that came up with the gas after I cooked the food… I'll just call someone and have it checked. Meanwhile, everybody would just have to deal with the lack of hot water. Is that okay?"

"We'll just head to the public hot baths tonight, then!" suggested Genma Saotome.

Soun Tendo folded his newspaper, sipped a little tea, and nodded. "That will have to do."

"Fine with me," Nabiki Tendo said in an audible mutter.

Akane did not speak up. She minded her business, which was at the moment finishing the last of the delicious chicken soup she doubted she could ever make even with improved, I've-read-enough-cookbooks-already cooking skills. She was also quite aware that only Ranma-chan and herself did not talk, but she kept silent, knowing that she didn't have to agree or anything to the public bath plan for the night since all of then would really have to take a bath everyday, and that meant she was going.

"All right," Ranma-chan finally said after thinking a lot about whether she should still stay in the same league as Akane and keep silent or say those two words. "But that hentai old man wouldn't be there, would he?"

"Oh, he's been outside Nerima for the past week already, haven't you noticed?" Genma looked at Soun with sly eyes. "And good thing," he added, his dislike for his master evident.

"Gochiso-sama," Akane muttered as she wiped her mouth with a cloth. She went outside the door and strolled down the street in her low-rise denim skirt that levelled just below her knee, her NYC tank top, and the same stilettos she wore the day before ("Can I borrow these, sis? Please and thank you."). It was time to heal her heart with a good ol' shopping spree before school the following day.

In the mall, she did not only get check-out looks and cat-calls from her male schoolmates, but also from guys from the other schools… and even guys who were well above her age. She even heard a group of guys say without repressing their voices, "Man, that Akane Tendo is _hot_!"

_Ugh, who do they think they are? And how do they even know my name?_

"Akane!"

Akane turned around, preparing her fist for an encounter with a hentai's face when she saw her two best girlfriends in the world, Sayuri and Yuka, who like Akane were carrying shopping bags. Oh, she had never been happier her whole life! "Hey!" she exclaimed, and then hugged the two.

"Akane, we heard… we're sorry," Yuka said. She rubbed Akane's back and looked at her apologetically, along with Sayuri.

All Akane could do was stop browsing through the suede jackets, and then looked at them both. "Whatever are you both talking about?"

"Nabiki told us this morning. Well, she actually told us not to tell you that she told, and not to tell you that we know… that we should ask you first what's wrong. But really, we're your friends and… well, we're concerned."

"Wait, wait. What _exactly_ did she tell you?" There was something totally fishy going on here and Akane sensed it. She was _sure_ that Nabiki didn't know about what happened yesterday, when everything happened.

"Er…" Sayuri started. And it all rushed out of her, that all Akane could do was sit on the soft sofa provided by the store for its customers. Sayuri and Yuka told Akane that her supposed-to-be boyfriend Ryouga had gone somewhere, and everybody else left the dojo. And the next thing was Akane ran to the park and wallowed in her thoughts, then afterwards changed her whole mind about Ranma and looked for him. What happened during the whole looking-for-Ranma thing Nabiki did not explicate, but she did say that when they went back to the dojo they completely ignored each other, both having grim faces that cannot be painted.

_Oh, damn my sister!_

"We're sorry."

"Oh, no. That's okay! I'm really fine now." Akane forced a smile on her face that she wished looked genuine. She got up from the sofa and resumed in browsing the clothes. She finally chose one and paid for it on the counter.

"What about we treat you to… Haagen Dazs?" Yuka offered with a friendly smile.

Akane looked at Sayuri and she was smiling, too. Then she sighed. "You know, I don't know what I've done in my life to have such great friends like you."

Eating in the ice cream parlor at the mall had good and bad effects on Akane. Good, because eating really helped her when she was depressed. And the chocolate actually helped her since it was an emotional picker-upper for ladies. Bad, because… well, ice cream absolutely reminded her of Ranma – all those times they ate out in the sidewalk ice cream parlor and Ranma was a girl, so she'd always get free treats for being _kawaii_. And how could she forget what recently happened between them? They ate in the ice cream parlor after making up, when she was really sure back then that he loved her…

"_Don't look at me. I look ugly; I'm all wet and sore."_

"_Nah, you look cute no matter what. Come on, let's go to the ice cream parlor."_

"_I didn't bring much money today."_

"_Don't be such a kill. I'm paying. Now come on."_

_Lies._

"Bwee!"

P-chan scrambled on the mall's cold floors, leaped and snuggled into Akane's chest. Akane was just finishing off the last of her Haagen Dazs, all the while finishing her reverie about Ranma, that she almost jumped off her seat when she heard P-chan's squeal.

Akane cuddled P-chan in her arms. "P-chan! Wherever did you come from?"

"You know what Akane? You're one of the most uncanny people in school… really! Having a pet piglet – a _black_ piglet." Sayuri laughed along with Yuka. They didn't know P-chan was eyeing them…

"But he's really cute, isn't he?" Akane said. She held P-chan near her face and kissed him. "Come on, let's go. More shopping for the ladies!"

"More shopping for the ladies!" Sayuri and Yuka echoed as the three of them got up and carried their shopping bags for the next hour, not noticing P-chan's long face.

"Whooh, I'm on fire! Tendo Akane, come to the motel with me!"

"Mine's eight inches long, babe."

"Don't listen to him, mine's nine!"

Akane wished she'd brought her mallet. "_Why_," she muttered through gritted teeth, "are all these guys acting this way? And how come they know me?"

Sayuri just threw dirty looks to the Nine-Inch Guy, then faced Akane as they walked further inside the mall. "Reality check here, Akane! You're not living in a world where everything's private and you're this pretty mystery girl. You performed in an _auditorium_, remember? Then you _sang in the bar_. And the people there were not only from Furinkan, but from all over Nerima."

"And," Yuka added, "do you remember what you wore in the bar? _A short, tight, white dress_. You were in the spotlight, so… er… yeah, it was almost see-through. And that's how you ended up in this state. A famous sex goddess for the sexually active maniacs here."

"Oh, damn…" was all Akane could say.

"Tendo Akane! I–"

Before the most probable sex maniac could finish his statement, Akane shouted off, "Hentai!" and was about to kick him out of the orbit, when P-chan attacked him first. In a split-second, his face was reduced to scratches, his blue kendo garb tattered, and his bokken split in half.

"Kuno-sempai!" Akane exclaimed as P-chan jumped back into her arms. "_Oh jeez_…" Then she remembered the kiss she gave him. That disgusting kiss! And she had been pretending to be good to him… although it bothered her that she might not have a good heart if she'd…

"Oh crap, as if I haven't beaten the life out of him before! Come on girls, let's go before these hormonally-imbalanced males hit on me again."

* * *

"Ever wonder how the monster-phantom-whatever catches the victim even though he's just walking and the victim is running? It happens all the time in horror movies."

"Ever wonder what Barbie would be like if she was real? I heard that if she were alive, she'd fall down. Her breasts are too heavy, and her feet are too small."

"Ever wonder why love hurts?"

Yuka and Sayuri looked at Akane as they walked her home.

"Akane," Yuka said. "I know yesterday's been hard for you and all, but I think it's best to forget about it."

"What do you mean?" Akane asked. Yes, she had asked for advice, but she thought they'd tell her about what to do to make up with Ranma.

"Move on. Enjoy life! There are so many other cute boys around. And they would actually not call you names all the time. And who'd not date a lady like you, Akane Tendo? Every guy would be willing to love and serve you for the rest of their lives. All the boys in Furinkan are in love with you. Take for instance Hiroshi–"

"Yuka? _I'm_ dating him," Sayuri said, eyebrows raised.

"Er… okay. Daisuke, then. He's crazy about you. Kuno. Uhm… not him. Hinagara. Fujima. Everybody. It's just unlucky that the one your dad paired you with… well…"

"Yuka, I get your point, thanks. Maybe that's what I'm supposed to do now, because it's _totally_ killing me. I mean, I admit I loved Ranma so much before. But yesterday… he was very different, like it wasn't him at all! He was the one who told me to go away. And just back there when we were eating ice cream, I thought about telling him that I was still his fiancé… and I guess that was just out of the idea that if he had loved me, then maybe he still could even after telling me to go away."

"Okay, okay, Akane. You're talking so fast, it just made a Guinness record!"

Akane forced a smile. "Yeah, sorry."

"So what's it going to be?"

"I'm breaking the engagement. I asked Dad and Uncle Genma last time, but they didn't agree. I'm trying again. And this time, I'll persuade them to say yes, even if it takes me… er…"

Sayuri and Yuka exchanged glances. "Akane, we know it's really hard for you right now, but that's the only way. You'll be fine, okay?"

"Thanks."

The three hugged one another. "I'm glad to have friends like you," Akane said.

"Bwee…" P-chan wailed gently. He knew that he had to be glad after hearing what the three girls just talked about, but he wasn't. What good is it that the engagement would be broken if she wouldn't love him either, if Akane would be more unhappy?

* * *

"Tendo Nabiki, tell me _everything_!" Akane demanded as she closed the door of her sister's room behind her and sat on the bed. It was seven o'clock in the evening and she just came home from the mall. She went straight to Nabiki's room where Nabiki was lifting dumbbells on her bed, and Akane was still carrying her shopping bags, which she put on the floor.

"What are you talking about?" Nabiki asked. She looked at her sister… fuming; eyes as fierce as a tiger's. Nabiki kept her I-don't-really-care-so-tell-me look, but she put down her dumbbells and faced her enraged sister.

"You sure you wanna know?"

"YES."

"Wait. What are you planning to do with Ranma now?"

"Break the engagement. After all those things he said to me at Cat Restaurant, I am _so_ mad at him! I am never, ever talking to him again! He broke my heart not just once, and he's broken it a final time. I _give up_ on that baka!"

"Oh. Well, in that case, you should see this," Nabiki uttered as she got up from the bed and reached for her video cam and connected it with wires to the television.

_The Truth Shall Set You Free: a documentary filmed by Nabiki Tendo._

Akane raised her eyebrows… and they slowly retreated to their normal height as Akane saw what really happened.

There was a hustle from the bushes just next to the bench where Akane sat down in the park before she went to Cat Restaurant.

"Mission accomplished, my friend," on-screen Nabiki said.

"Why did we have to use _my_ voice?"

It didn't take Akane a second to realize who the girl was. "You dragged _Ukyou_ into this!"

The whole conversation Nabiki and Ukyou had in the bushes played on, although only their voices were heard since the camera was focused to the sky the whole time. Akane was very amazed that Ukyou did a nice thing for her, because Ukyou really loved Ranma so much. Akane heard Ukyou telling Nabiki about the deal she made with Ranma's other fiancées… and then the camera started moving. Nabiki and Ukyou ran to where Akane was headed, which was Cat Restaurant.

They passed by the Kunos' mansion, and stopped by Kodachi's unconscious body and Tatewaki's wooden sword by the gate.

"Oh, that's nasty," Ukyou's voice noted. Then they resumed running, stopped just behind the garbage bins outside and filmed what happened inside.

"What are you doing here?" Ranma asked Akane.

"I… I wanted to apologize."

"Get out."

Watching what happened made Akane feel the same hurt she felt in the restaurant. She felt helpless… like she was one of those African slaves shipped to America who couldn't do anything to set themselves free in that movie, Amistad. Even though they were fighting so hard, they couldn't get their freedom. That's exactly what she felt, watching the whole scene. She kept on insisting to Ranma that she was really sorry, but he never accepted her apology and even insulted her.

"DAMN YOU, RANMA!" Akane screamed, followed by the slap.

Then something very weird happened that Akane failed to notice before. Ranma actually yelled, "Hentai-girl! I kill!" before she rushed out of the restaurant.

"Nabiki, is it me, or did Ranma just say that?" Akane asked Nabiki who was slyly smiling as she paused the camera.

"It's not like we have a computer here or anything, so I couldn't edit the scenes. Ranma really said that. Do you know what that means?"

"That… Ranma had been spending too much time with Shampoo and therefore adapted her jabbering too?"

Nabiki rolled her eyes and played the camera. It showed that after Akane had left, Ranma's face was very deformed. "I slapped him _that_ hard?" Akane asked, amazed.

Her question was answered a few seconds later. The screen showed Ranma conversing with Shampoo, but the way they called each other didn't fit their bodies well. Ranma called Shampoo _grandmother_ and Shampoo talked about some human plaster from China.

They both drank water. Then… Akane gasped.

"Yes, little sister, that's how it all happened. So you see, Ranma was _never_ there. He never said anything bad to you – that Amazon did," Nabiki explained.

"But what… h-how…" Akane didn't seem to believe any of it. If that wasn't Ranma she slapped, then why didn't the real Ranma talk to her?

She didn't say anything, but she just watched the television which was still playing the rest of what happened in Cat Restaurant. Shampoo left and Cologne went to cook in the kitchen. Then there was some slight static that meant the camera was stopped for a while, and then resumed recording.

Shampoo was back, and this time with the wet redhead. She sat down and ate the ramen prepared for her, and noticed that she was being watched by Cologne, who told her that Akane was there a while ago. Cologne said that Akane totally hated Ranma and was very mad. She then played a tape recorder, which replayed Akane screaming, "DAMN YOU, RANMA!" followed by a slap and a slam.

Ranma finished her ramen and left without a word.

Akane wondered what Ranma might have felt. Was he mad at her? Was he sad? Or was he actually happy?

_No, Ranma wouldn't be happy…_

And then out of the blue, anger hit her. "OH, THAT NASTY OLD GHOUL AND HER BARBARIAN GRANDDAUGHTER!"

"Oi, take it easy, you're rocking the house!" Nabiki noted. She stopped the camera and turned the television off. "So what's it going to be? That wasn't Ranma back there in the restaurant. And I'm pretty sure Ranma still… still loves you. I mean, have you seen him lately?"

"Yes, I've seen him. And he never talked to me."

"Well, hello! After what Cologne played in the recorder, which was you being mad like hell, why would Ranma talk to you?"

"I never would have shouted that if I knew Shampoo was just disguising as Ranma!"

"My point exactly, Akane! Now Ranma's thinking you really, really hate him. But if he knew what really happened in the restaurant, he wouldn't be like this. So what do you say?"

Akane looked at her sister hesitantly, not knowing what to say. Yes? Nabiki had a point. Maybe there's still a chance…

"NO."

Nabiki rolled her eyes. "After what I just showed you?"

"I… I guess if he really loves me, he'll come and talk to me even though I'm angry. That's what he should have done. But he didn't, he just walked past me."

"Boys feel discouraged sometimes, too, you know. Even the most arrogant ones may feel insecure or weak in some point of their lives… especially when they're dealing with the ones they love. And your being big-headed won't help."

"Well…" Akane didn't know what to say. She was desperate to keep her pride up, after it was trampled on. "That baka still should have talked to me!" Although she felt really, really sad, thinking that she should also talk to him, that was all she could say at the moment.

Nabiki rolled her eyes a final time. "That's all I could do."

And before she knew it, Akane gave her a hug. Nabiki was not really the hug-me type of person, but Akane did anyway. "Thanks, Nabiki," she said in a heartfelt way. Even though she wasn't sure what was going to happen to her and Ranma (she even thought of giving it all up just then), in a second she realized that her sister did all those things for her, and it touched her so much.

They both stood up, and they were about to get out of the room already when Akane stopped her. "What do you want in return? I just received my allowance."

Nabiki was surprised. Money sounded so tempting at that moment… until she perused through the shopping bags. "This halter top will do," she said.

Akane could just smile.

* * *

"_Don't go breaking my heart_

_I couldn't if I tried_

_Oh honey if I get restless_

_Baby you're not that kind…_

_Oooh, nobody knows it_

_Nobody knows it_

_When I was down_

_I was your clown_

_Right from the start_

_I gave you my heart_

_Oh baby, I gave you my heart…_

_So don't go breaking my heart_

_I won't go breaking your heart_

_Don't go breaking my, don't go breaking my_

_Don't go breaking my heart…"_

Akane was humming a song that had been stuck in her head since that afternoon. Now she was in the newly put-up hot pools in town in the ladies' section, where the water was deep in the center but shallow near the edges, with Kasumi, Nabiki, and her two friends who tagged along, Sayuri and Yuka.

Of course, the four of them knew the heartache Akane was going through, but they were wondering why she was even in the mood to sing. Sayuri and Yuka waded near Akane in the warm waters of the pool. "Okay, Akane," Yuka began. "We talked about this matter this afternoon, right? We agreed that it's best to forget, didn't we?"

"I mean," Sayuri added. "you're not… considering getting back with him or anything, are you?"

Akane snapped back to reality. Just a moment ago she had this daydream – no, a dream actually (she totally believed that it wasn't her own will to think about it) – about Ranma and her meeting up in some rose garden, with Ranma offering her a bouquet of flowers.

"What? Oh… of course not!" Akane coughed lightly and looked down on the water. "That would be… that would be ludicrous."

"Don't get us wrong Akane. We're not trying to rule you or anything; we're just telling you what's best for you. You're our best friend, and we don't want you to get hurt anymore."

"Thanks, Sayuri."

_Is this really what's best for me?_

_I don't know what to do! I've been moving from Ranma to Ryouga and all, that it sounds inhuman… in order to satisfy myself and find out where I really belong, I used them both for my own selfish benefit…_

_And my problem isn't even solved; I still don't know where I belong! I have got to stop moving from one guy to another like some selfish slut princess._

_Now, all I have to do is tell Ranma everything, that those Amazons did that trick, and I… I love him! That would be the best thing to do, and I'm pretty sure he's going to want to, too. Love me, I mean. After all, he got sick when Ryouga and I were a couple…_

_KAMI, WHAT THE HECK AM I THINKING! I am turning into evil incarnate! I can't just say those things… I'm not even supposed to think them!_

_I don't know what to do… _

"Akane?"

A voice.

"Akane!"

Voices.

"Akane…"

Fading… fading… until she couldn't hear anything anymore.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** Akane sang _Don't Go Breaking My Heart_, which is in the soundtrack of the movie Ella Enchanted, starring Anne Hathaway of The Princess Diaries. She was so pretty. (",)

God, I am loving the whole drama thing. I am REALLY loving it, so I might get carried away in the next chapters. Thanks for reading, and please review!


	9. A Night of Many Things

**Disclaimer:** Not mine, not yours, but hers.

* * *

**Changed Overnight**

**Chapter Nine: A Night of Many Things**

"Akane!"

Ranma heard screams just from the other side of the wall in the public baths.

"Akane's drowning, Yuka!"

Without a second thought, Ranma hurried to the ladies' section. His mind wasn't functioning – the thought of being beaten up by the girls there didn't come to him – the only thing that was in his head after he heard the screams was that he should save Akane from drowning.

_Akane!_

"Oh, Ranma!" Kasumi exhaled when Ranma came into the scene. Every naked girl who saw him screamed that there was a _hentai_ in the room and began throwing things at him, but they were unaware that someone was drowning. Sayuri, who was in the swimming team, dove in the deep part of the baths as quickly as she could, but Ranma was quicker.

"Akane!" Ranma yelled as he dove in the warm waters. He searched and saw Akane's naked body drifting underwater, eyes closed, a last batch of bubbles escaping her mouth.

With fire burning in his eyes and his heart beating faster than ever, Ranma swam to Akane, wrapped his left arm around her waist and pulled her up to the surface of the water.

Many ladies gasped as they saw that someone almost drowned and some didn't mind about a guy being there because he, after all, kept her from drowning, but there were still the sexists who opposed about being there who shut their mouth since the saving was in process.

"Akane!" Sayuri, Yuka, Nabiki, and Kasumi gasped altogether. They swam to the shallowest edge of the baths as Ranma laid Akane's unconscious body on the floor at the side of the pool. He raised her head from the ground and listened if she was still breathing.

"Is she going to be okay?" Yuka asked.

"I think so… Ranma's going to make her okay," answered Sayuri.

"I wouldn't be sure," Kasumi uttered.

Ranma just looked at Akane. Her angelic face, her heavenly, wet body.

"_Baka, what the hell do you think you're doing_?" Nabiki suddenly shouted at Ranma, whose dreamy gaze at Akane's was broken.

"I-I don't know! I've never taken lifeguard lessons before!" Ranma was looking very desperate, but still the fire was burning in his eyes, like it was his task to always protect Akane and keep her from harm no matter what.

"Oh my," Kasumi sighed fearfully.

A faint but authoritative voice was becoming clearer and clearer. "Excuse me ladies, lifeguard coming through! Where is she?" The lifeguard searched the area and stopped at the sight of a naked Akane being held by Ranma (who was just wearing shorts).

_Akane… Ranma…_

"Ryouga-kun? You're a working as a lifeguard here?" Kasumi asked.

Ryouga could only nod.

"If you're a lifeguard, then do your damn business and save my sister's life!" Nabiki bellowed.

"Wha–… oh!" Ryouga hurried to the spot where Ranma was doing a terrible job of saving Akane's life. He hesitated. "Ranma… excuse me."

Ranma unwillingly moved over and watched as Ryouga tilted Akane's head… and gave her the mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. He began pressing down her bare chest in pulses as her breasts bounced with the rhythm, and then doing the mouth-to-mouth again until Akane gasped for air and coughed huge amounts of water from her lungs. She rolled opposite Ryouga's side and felt a jolt of pain inside her body.

"Akane, are you okay?" she heard the voice of her friend calling her. She fluttered her eyes and saw her two sisters and two friends looking expectantly at her.

"I'm… I'm okay."

The four sighed with relief, and so did the ladies in the area who were watching the scene anxiously. Akane sat up and felt herself being covered with a towel. She clutched the rest of it to cover her nakedness and looked at her savior. Her heart skipped a beat.

"Ryouga?" The name felt so odd when she said it. She hasn't called his name for a very long time. And then she felt something else – guilt and tension. When Ryouga had been gone a few days ago, he had missed things and probably still thought that everything's the same between him and Akane. How was she going to break it to him gently?

Or what if she just went back to him?

_NO! Akane, stop it already!_ Akane rebuked herself. Now was the hardest part – she didn't know how to act towards her ex-boyfriend who doesn't know he's been marked 'ex' already.

Ryouga, on the other hand, tried to calm himself to no avail. Seeing Akane again (and this time not as a little black piglet), a while ago naked, at the moment barely covered, and sharing kisses with her (maybe not actual kisses because it was mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, but their lips touched still) made him blush to the roots of his hair. He was certain she didn't know that he knew about her sudden change of feelings, since he found it out at the park as P-chan. After all, the name she uttered when she was crying was not his, but Ranma's name.

Finally, he held out his hand. Akane took it, and he helped her get up. Her feet swayed a little, and out of instinct Ryouga held her waist and assisted her as she regained stability. They locked eyes for a moment, and what Akane saw in Ryouga was very different from the usual bliss he showed. She saw… defeat.

Without thinking, Akane put her arms around Ryouga and let the towel fall to the floor. Ryouga was stunned, but his arms landed around her waist. His body froze, feeling the whole front of Akane's body against his… her breasts, her stomach, everything at the front.

She tiptoed so that her mouth was almost level to his ear. "Ryouga…" Akane whispered so faintly in his that only Ryouga could hear. She kept herself from crying that she had been making soft choking sounds. "I'm sorry. I'm confused… I don't know what to do anymore. I-I'm sorry… I'm sorry… I'm sorry… I want out…" She stopped and buried her face in the corner of his neck and shoulder for a second. Ryouga felt his insides ache with what she said. He knew what it meant.

"Thank you for saving me," she said, now loud enough for everybody to hear. She stepped back, reached for the towel and wrapped herself with it. She was about to get out of the room until she saw Ranma a few meters away. She stopped. And this time her heart did not skip a beat once, not twice. It stopped beating. And this time, too, she saw almost the same look in Ranma's eyes as she saw in Ryouga's – defeat, helplessness… only there was another thing she saw that she couldn't decipher.

_I want to tell him now – everything – that I don't hate him, that I love him… but I can't…_

Akane sensed everyone's eyes on her, so she thought better than spill all to Ranma in that place. She took a deep, shaky breath. Without turning around, she told the four companions she was with in the baths that she would go home already. She walked slowly, and as she glanced at Ranma her heart started beating again. She passed by him without a word and went into the changing room.

There was a long moment of silence in the spot where she left. The four ladies in the shallow part watched as Ryouga turned to Ranma. "Ranma, thank you for… for getting Akane out of the pool, or else she'd have swallowed more water and that wouldn't have been easy to save." His voice was sincere.

"It's okay," Ranma answered, unsure of what to do next to relieve the tension building up between them. In his head, he wanted things to go back the way they were – that he and Ryouga would always fight whenever they saw each other. But it was funny how love could turn things upside down, so he didn't count on anything to go back to normal.

"Er… this is the ladies' section of the public baths, so will you please…?"

"Oh yeah, sorry," Ranma said. He looked around and saw ladies in the bath looking back at him. Some of them were frowning, but others had grateful, admiring smiles for saving Akane. Before he went out of the room, he returned the favor and thanked Ryouga for saving Akane.

And the next thing Ryouga knew he was hearing whispers from the ladies.

"_That pigtailed guy was really brave, diving into the deepest part of the bath and all… and he's really cute!"_

"_Yeah, but that girl's life wouldn't have been saved if that hot lifeguard didn't do mouth-to-mouth. I wish I almost drowned!"_

Before he could hear the rest of what they were saying and blush more, Ryouga faced all the women. "Everything's okay now. You just call on me if something goes wrong." And he left the room.

"_Uhm… something's wrong, Mr. Lifeguard,"_ a group of girls in one of the shallow sides started whispering and giggling. _"We're drowning, too!"_

* * *

"What happened there, boy?" Genma asked his son Ranma, who just came back from somewhere.

"Akane almost drowned."

"WHAT!" Soun roared. "Why didn't–"

"_It's okay_," Ranma interrupted his uncle. "Ryouga saved her."

While Genma was calming Soun down, Ranma waded to the other side of the men's bath and started wallowing in his thoughts.

_Akane really had it in there. She almost died. Good thing her boyfriend Ryouga saved her, he mused sarcastically. She knew I was there, but look what she did! She was naked when she embraced Ryouga and went all mushy with him. And that black pig got it all. If only Akane knew that I took her out of the water…_

_I know she's been mad at me before. Of course it happened a million times. She'd call me a baka, a hentai, any bad name she wants to call me. Then she'd use her mallet to send me flying in the air like Batman. But hell I care, no matter what she did, she would always be Akane. The same thoughtful, clumsy, cute Akane I've known. I wasn't kidding about what I said near the ice cream parlor or back there in the house. And she thinks I'm a liar!_

_But when that Old Ghoul recorded it on tape… it sounded too mad. Like she was sure never to be… not mad at me anymore. I wonder what happened to her, because back there at the house, when she was angry with me, I looked through her and I was sure I could still find a way to make up with her. NO, I AIN'T GONNA GET SICK THIS TIME, I need to be strong for her! That damn illness struck me at the wrong time, and it was the reason why I came to tell her over and over again that I love her._

Ranma submerged his head in the water and quickly went back to the surface.

_DAMN! I must have looked like a big sissy to her…_

_When she passed by me in the baths, she looked at me with no emotion at all. Or maybe she was telling me something. _I'm sorry_ or _I hate you_, perhaps? Aw, damn all girls and their wiles!_

_I love Akane. She's been a very big part of my otherwise senseless life. But I can't help thinking, what she's doing with everybody is wrong! She runs to Ryouga, and in Kami-sama's blessing, she runs to me… but in turn she would eventually hate me all over and over and over and over again and I do what I can to tell her that I like her so much, then we're friends, and then she hates me again._

_I'm tired of this! A man of martial arts does not bear with women who do not make up their minds. So if anybody asks, I'll just tell that… that Akane and I are no more. Hell, we were not together in the first place, our fathers did the engagement on their own! But really, I'll stop making _us_ happen. And it will be me this time._

_I just hope my will doesn't give in to the temptation of being with her…_

And the flame that once burned so brightly in Ranma's eyes became faint – too faint until it was almost extinguished.

* * *

Akane had crawled under her sheets and screamed. After all, there was nobody in the house. She screamed at the top of her lungs, not even caring to muffle it with the pillow.

"Now, I really, really want everything to _stop_!" she yelled acrimoniously. She pounded the bed and screamed again and again, got out of the covers, paced her room, looked at the mirror and wrinkled her forehead.

"Will you please stop being a heartless, cruel little… aagh! I don't even know what to call you, Akane Tendo! You've gotten yourself into this without thinking what bad things could happen, and now you _suffer_! That's what you get for being such a…"

She stopped, her finger pointing at her reflection in the mirror, because the phone just rang. She hurried to the phone downstairs and calmed herself down before answering.

"Hello?"

"Hello, may I speak to Akane please?"

"Speaking… may I know who this is?"

"Hey, Akane. This is Jiro. From dance class?"

"Jiro…" Akane mused, trying to remember. She hasn't been attending dance classes lately. In fact, she's been neglecting a lot of things. But for the meantime she has got to remember who Jiro was. Jiro… brown hair, blue eyes, a friendly St. Hebereke senior.

"Jiro!" she exclaimed, remembering. "Why have you called?"

"Well, we missed you at dance class. Aiko-sensei was wondering where you've been."

"Er… well, I've been busy with… things. Maybe I'll attend the next lesson, if I can find time."

"No, that's not necessary. Tomorrow they'll go back ballet again because there are new students, and you can afford to miss that," Jiro chuckled.

Akane was not quite sure where this led. "Oh. So why did you call then?"

"Well," Jiro began. He took a deep breath. "I was wondering if we could… uhm… hang out after school."

"Oh." Akane was not thinking straight at the moment, because she had just recovered from a state of self-anger, and she probably might resume after the phone call. But she agreed anyway, because again she didn't think about what she put herself into.

_It's just a date with a guy._

"Sure," Akane said.

Jiro's voice was happier. "That's cool! We'll see each other after school, then? Say… five o'clock?"

"Sure," she repeated.

"That would be great. So, yeah. Oyasumi nasai. See you tomorrow."

"Good night."

Akane hanged up, went back to her room, and faced the mirror once again. "Yes, Akane, as I was saying, you get yourself into things without thinking what might happen to you! Take now for instance, you just got yourself in a date with Jiro–"

It was then that she realized what she had really gotten herself into.

"_This_ is what I'm talking about…" she moaned sullenly. "_Just a date with a guy?_ Seriously! I've been dating two guys at the same time – well, not exactly dating or whatever – and here comes another one! Akane no baka!"

There was a knock on the door that made her jump.

"Akane?"

It was Kasumi's gentle voice.

"Kasumi onee-chan?"

"Is there something wrong?"

"Oh, no! I was just… practicing my lines in the… poem recitation thing."

"Oh. Everybody just got back from the public baths and we're preparing to sleep. Ranma's on the rooftop, though. If you need anything before you go to sleep, just call me. I won't be sleeping in a few minutes since I have undone chores to do."

"Yeah, thanks."

_Okay, so everybody's going to sleep in a while, but Ranma's up on the roof. Kasumi didn't have to tell me that… like I would even have the face to talk to him after making out with another guy in front of him, being naked and all. I mean, okay, not really making out, but all that whispering might have seemed to be that way. And… ugh! Sayuri's right, I was talking too fast in the mall, and now I'm thinking too fast that I deserve a record in Guinness. I have got to stop this. But… damn!_

_THAT HENTAI!_

Not thinking again, Akane opened her window abruptly and climbed to the rooftop. She was clinging to the edge when she shouted, "Ranma!" with fury. She had been standing on the border of the roof and was about to step forward. "Ranma, you hentai!"

The pigtailed martial artist blinked. He had been spending his time, sitting on the rooftop, thinking about Akane and what to do with the injustice she's been showing, and here she comes, furious at him, without a reason!

"What did I do?"

"You perv– …aaah!" Before Akane could even finish, her foot slipped and she almost fell all the way down from up the roof, if not for Ranma's quick reflex. He grabbed her hand. His hold and her foot were the only things preventing her fall. She was tilted towards the air, well outside the perimeter of the roof.

"_What now_?" Ranma asked, as if Akane wasn't dangling at his mercy. "Why did you come storming here and screaming _hentai_?"

"First of all, pull me up, because I might fall!" Akane demanded.

"Well, I would… but no," he said, half laughing. "Tell me first why you've been screaming like a banshee. Or why don't you try pulling yourself up?"

"If I pull myself up, I pull you down, and you fall down with me, baka."

The present situation reminded them so much of the times before all of the unfortunate problems of love came into their lives. Ranma loved playing games with Akane – specifically when he was surely at the top and Akane would agree to his terms because she was powerless, or else she'd end up falling… until he'd catch her. All the same.

"You pervert! You didn't think I'd miss that, did you? Back there in the baths? _You saw me naked!_ I know you did… and you just stared at me! You didn't even cover your eyes or anything! Hentaaaa–"

Ranma covered Akane's mouth with his other free hand. "Will you please keep it quiet? And how the heck could I have covered my eyes if I was busy saving your almost-over life? Another thing – everybody was watching anyway, so it's not as if I wanted to look at you, tomboy!"

Akane shook her head and Ranma's hand away so she could speak. "Wh–…" Then she stopped. First, because he called her a tomboy again, and that started to provoke the fury out of bad memories in her. Second, because Ranma said that he had saved her.

"You saved my life?"

Ranma paused and thought twice. If he told Akane that he did, she'll probably thank him. But that would mean sharing the credit with Ryouga, and Ryouga was in a bad state.

_Why the hell am I thinking about credit? Of course it's my duty to save her from harm… I'm her… her fiancé!_

"Well, yeah," he replied plainly. "I heard screams from the other room so I rushed, and before I knew it I was under the water pulling you up to the surface so you wouldn't–"

"You pulled me up, and I was naked! Ranma, that just proves that you're such a hentai! There were naked ladies in the area too… so you definitely saw them all. And will you just pull me up, because my hands are slipping!"

With his mouth agape in disbelief because of what Akane had just said (_I SAVED HER LIFE, for heaven's sake!_), Ranma rolled his eyes and pulled her towards him. She fell on top of his body and they landed on the roof, her face just an inch away from him, both of them shocked.

Ranma smelled a hint of oranges and strawberries in the air, but before he could get the whole of it, Akane rolled over so that both of them were lying on their backs, facing the night sky. After what seemed like forever, Akane muttered, "Hentai."

"Am not," Ranma opposed.

A minute's silence again.

"Thanks for saving my life."

Ranma's heart began to beat twice as fast. It had been such a long time since he heard Akane saying things to him that were actually nice. He didn't say anything, though – there was still tension surrounding the two of them, and he didn't know exactly how to get rid of it. Then his mind drifted.

"Well, Ryouga saw you naked, too!" Ranma kicked himself mentally for saying such a stupid thing. It was true, but he shouldn't have said it!

"He's the _lifeguard_!"

"Still, he saw you naked. And did you know he was working there?"

"No… that's why I was shocked to see him covering me with the towel. And if I knew he was working there, I never would have gone there to take a bath!" The moment she understood what she just said, she clasped her hand to her mouth.

Ranma put his hands behind his head. "Why so?"

Akane scolded herself for getting in the situation. "I… I don't know."

Instead of saying the same things he said a few days ago when they had their recent quarrel, that Akane doesn't love Ryouga at all, that he might have a chance, Ranma zipped his prone-to-harm mouth and let his good mouth do the talking. "What did you say to him when you… when you embraced him back there?"

_Of course. I kept it from everyone, but I can never keep it from Ranma. At least he didn't hear it._

"Nothing. I was just opening and closing my mouth because I was, er… desperate for air. And what are you doing, asking what I said to him? It's none of your business."

"It _is_ my business," Ranma said rather sternly. "You're my fiancé, right?"

It was actually one of the very few times that Ranma called Akane his fiancé and it surprised her that she didn't think about what she was about to say. "Like I said in the park, I'm calling it off."

"_What_? When did you say it?" Ranma was caught offhand, and he was trying to remember…

"Remember when we came home from school, and we were carrying all those tokens form my admirers?" Akane smiled smugly as she mentioned it. "I told you it's not working out. I told our fathers, but they didn't give their consent, so now I'm asking them again. Because… well, Ranma…" she faced him, leaning on her elbow, "I'm being choked up."

"Huh?" Ranma had finally remembered and turned his head to Akane's direction. "Of course you aren't. I already backed away, didn't I? It's you and Ryouga left now, and you could do anything you want."

"I know… I know you backed away. But…" Akane took a deep breath and exhaled. It took more than her guts to say this all, but telling someone would totally relieve her! "I was really confused. Everybody wanted me to get it over with you; even _I_ wanted to. But there was a part of me that was quite unsure, so…"

Akane inhaled. She remembered the title of Nabiki's documentary: _The Truth Shall Set You Free_. Well, she hoped it was going to, because that was what she intended to tell Ranma finally.

"After our fathers disagreed about breaking the engagement, I postponed the second request for the break-up thing and waited. After that, my feelings for Ryouga…" Akane looked at Ranma, hoping he'd just say the damn words since he's said them before, because she felt guilty saying it.

Ranma looked at the sky still, his nostrils catching wisps of orange and strawberry-scented air.

"were gone," she finished.

Deep inside, Ranma was felt a balloon swelling up, but he tried to not show Akane that he felt that way. "So?"

"Well, weren't _you_ the one who told me that? That I was just this… love buff who wanted to be loved so badly that I forced myself to fall in love with the first guy who came my way? That I didn't break up with Ryouga because it made me feel guilty? That I really just didn't… love him anymore?"

"Wait, first of all, I never said those words–"

"Well, you did, and if I'd have to jam that to your brain, I will, thank you very much! And I wasn't lying; you're really bullshit – bullshit for making me confused in the first place. You're the reason my life has become a mess."

Not being able to hold the swelling balloon in, Ranma grabbed Akane and deftly pushed her so that she was lying flat on her back, and he was on top of her.

"WHY? Why do you always blame everything on _me_? I've been doing nothing but saving your neck and hoping for your better living, yet you blame all the woes that come into your life on me. Yes, I've called you names before, but they were just to make you laugh because you were very serious with your life, which, mind you, has been perfect ever since! I don't even know what I'm doing here in Nerima. All I get are tits and ass shoved to me by worthless fiancées, and another fiancé who doesn't have control over her own life so she blames it all on _me_! _Why_ are you doing this to me, huh?"

"_Perfect_?" Akane argued.

_Oh, this is going to be a long night…_

"Of course my life was perfect – until you came! And you're actually asking me why I'm doing this to you? Ranma, I'm not doing _anything_ to you! _You're_ the one messing my life up! For you, all those names you've called me were just a joke, but for me…"

Akane sobbed once, unable to finish what she said. The truth was, no matter how serious or unserious Ranma was when they argued and called each other names, she still felt the same pain, like some bee that stung her again and again.

"I'm just… sensitive," she murmured, unable to think properly and not wanting to continue ranting. She pushed Ranma away. "Get off me."

Ranma did and lay back beside her. "Tsk… you're drunk."

"_Excuse me?"_

* * *

**Author's Notes:** For one thing, Ryouga works in the hot pools because he will not turn into a black piglet in hot water. For the rest of your questions, send in your reviews or email me. I'll get back to you in the next chapter, which I promise will come out soon. 


	10. Persistent Doubts and The Power of Three

**Author's Notes:** Life is all about ass – you're either covering it, laughing it off, kicking it, kissing it, busting it, trying to get a piece of it, or behaving like one.

**Disclaimer:** Not mine, not yours, but hers. Know what, I'm getting tired of this.

* * *

**Changed Overnight**

**Chapter Ten: Persistent Doubts and The Power of Three**

"You're drunk, Akane," Ranma repeated.

Akane, not having the slightest idea where Ranma wanted this to lead, countered, "I don't drink!"

"Well, you're _mentally_ drunk!" insisted Ranma lamely. Again, he mentally kicked himself for saying something stupid. He hated looking stupid, let alone sounding stupid in front of Akane. "Er… drunk people don't know what they talk about."

Akane thought Ranma had a screw loose. "Mentally drunk?" she repeated sarcastically. "Yeah, and dad's actually King of England. I totally know what I'm talking about, Ranma, and it's true." Finally, she stood up and balanced herself on the roof. "I tried," she said, "but you just blew the chance away."

When she started walking towards where she came in, Ranma got up on his feet. "Wait, _I_ blew the chance away? _Me_? _You_ were the one who got mad back there in Cat Restaurant!"

"Oh, and now you're–" Akane paused, realizing what Ranma just said. "What?"

"Back there. The Amazons played back a recorder. You were pretty mad at me."

Akane apprehended that this was the perfect time to explain to him what happened! If things went smoothly and everything was okay again, then maybe…

"Yes, that was me, but it wasn't you," she said, thinking about everything Nabiki showed her.

"What?" Ranma apparently didn't understand what she was talking about. Who would?

"Cologne disguised herself, so did Shampoo. I was angry at them, not you! Well, maybe I was mad at you, too, but it was Shampoo who said those things…" She knew she wasn't making sense, without even looking at Ranma's bewildered face. "Look," she started all over again, right after taking a deep breath. "Cologne and Shampoo used some human plaster from China so they looked exactly like the people they wanted to be. Cologne became Shampoo, Shampoo became you. She told me to leave, that you don't want to have anything to do with me because I'm just a… silly little barbarian who can't cook, a kawaiikune baka, and… that you c-can't possibly love me."

Right then and there, Akane's legs wanted to give way after she said those words. They were too painful to remember, even though she already found out that it wasn't Ranma who said them. Shampoo had Ranma's face, body, voice, everything. Saying that was like Ranma saying the same things.

Right then and there, too, Ranma just wanted to surround Akane and prove to her how he loves her, just to take away the forlorn look in her eyes. All the thoughts he had in the hot baths when he considered giving up on Akane were gone instantly. And he did – straight away, he embraced her. "You know I could never say that to you," he said gently.

"Well, you have," Akane insisted weakly. She wanted to melt in his arms – she hadn't felt what it was like for a very long time. It was as if everything never happened – her plan to keep herself away from him, the deals she made with the other fiancées, the hatred she felt… everything. For a moment she thought of banging her head on the hard roof so she'd have partial amnesia and forget about all the bad things that happened between them!

But she didn't, because all her thoughts slipped away slowly from her mind, and all she was thinking of was Ranma, his hands around her, his warm breath upon her neck. And just as she was opening her mouth to apologize for all the terrible things she has done, Ranma opened his first.

"I'm sorry," he said.

Akane sobbed once and pounded Ranma's chest one time with all her might, which at the moment wasn't too powerful as it was since she felt weak with what was happening. "You're so stubborn," she cried. "Why are you apologizing now when you haven't before? You shouldn't. It's me."

Ranma embraced her tighter. "I started apologizing a long time ago. You just didn't hear me out." He took a deep breath with a trace of mild exasperation. "Akane, you're too proud. And though I didn't want to call you selfish, sometimes you could be. I'm human, too! I may have been hurtful to you before… but I've changed. And even before, when you shot things back at me, I've been hurt. You just don't know what–"

"Why?" Akane interrupted. "Why have you changed? You know, things were better off with you being cynical. Back then the routine was the same – you call me names, I call you names. You tease me, I throw things at you. You laugh at me, I get mad. I know I started this whole thing with the whole kissing Kuno thing, but still! You should have done it your way and showed nothing about the incident and continued laughing at me!" She pounded his chest again, though gently, pleadingly. "Then I should have stopped the whole thing in vain," she said in defeat.

"_Why_ have I changed, Akane?" Ranma took a deep breath, still holding her, the orange-strawberry scent from Akane's hair seeping into his lungs once more, and then sighed. "I can't bear seeing you getting hurt, much more when I know the reason is me. I told you I love you, and it ain't gonna change. You can kiss Kuno a million times or sleep with P-chan naked, but I ain't giving up. I'll apologize again and again if I have to. I don't know, maybe it hasn't gotten into your mind much since I tried to tell you… but I hope tonight you could finally process it – I love you. That's why."

And it just took those three words. Something threatened to burst inside Akane's chest, something she totally couldn't suppress that she had to let it out before it killed her! She had to do something… something very STRONG to let the feeling out…

_SLAP!_

That was what went on inside Akane's mind. Her slaps were violent enough, but she didn't slap Ranma at all.

Instead, she squinted at Ranma, all the while holding both sides of his face with her hands, and drew him closer to her. Within a split second, a jolt of electricity came sending through their bodies as they had their first real kiss.

Ranma's eyes grew wide as they locked with Akane's closed ones… and her serenity was just too infectious to not follow. Slowly his eyelids closed, leaving any sign of energy, as all the vigor from them transferred miraculously to his tongue that started moving inside Akane's mouth. He didn't know where it came from, but it just happened.

Akane gasped, but before she knew it, her tongue responded to Ranma's which was starting to need her attention. Ranma's arms around her tightened and her arms around his neck slid down, feeling his chest.

_If you want to be satisfied_, Akane thought again after a long, troubled period of time battling with Ranma's, Ryouga's, her, and everybody else's feelings as she let out a short exhale.

_Let your conscience be your guide._

A final second and out of breath, their tongues uncoiled from each other. Ranma buried his face in the corner of Akane's neck and her shoulder, and the smell of sweet oranges and strawberries intoxicated him again.

_And right now_, Akane went in her head, _my conscience says… he's the one._

She kissed the spot behind his ear and stroked his hair. "You know what? For a second there, I considered slapping your face, or perhaps summoning my mallet with some spell to mallet you out of the country. And what did you mean by sleep with P-chan naked? You give malice even with me sleeping with my pet! Kami, I really am going to mallet you…"

Ranma thought he'd heard wrong. "What?" Okay. A split second ago they were sharing passionate kisses with each other, and now… "W-what?" he repeated as he quickly slid his hands from her waist to her arms, holding her a foot-length away.

"I said, baka," Akane whispered as she gave him a sudden smooch on the lips. "I love you, too."

And whatever expression Ranma had (which was an overrating of surprise) when he heard the she-almost-considered-breaking-my-heart note hopped up a few levels – his heart was beating faster than the heart attack rate, his face was redder than the ripest tomato, and the feeble fire that burned in his eyes suddenly exploded and burned with more than ten times the recent time. It was his turn to feel that something had to be done to free the suppressed feeling inside of him…

A moment later, almost all of Nerima was awakened by a loud yell of "YES!" made by Ranma Saotome from the rooftop of the Tendo dojo.

* * *

"Akane… is that what I think it is?"

Without needing a mirror to see what her friends were fussing about, Akane knew immediately and blushed.

"It's a… a _you-know-what_! Oh… my… Kami…" was all Yuka could utter.

"It couldn't be Ryouga who gave you that, he was still there doing his lifeguard job when you left. It can't be Kuno because I heard that a doctor told him to get a lot of rest after he was found beat up in front of his mansion, and until now he's at home with some nasty broken bones. It couldn't be Hiroshi because I'm dating him now, and not Daisuke because Yuka's dating him. And besides, they're not your type… so that leaves…" Sayuri's voice faded, with a tone of suggesting that Akane would have to finish the sentence.

Akane smiled and sighed, unmindful of the wind blowing her hair back, thus exposing the mark on her neck. "Yeah, yeah…"

"Oh jeez!" Yuka exclaimed. "How the hell did that happen?"

"Well, things just came one after another, and the next thing I knew I was on the rooftop with him, talking about things… and the rest was, I guess, history," Akane half-whispered, then giggled. "Oh, Sayuri, Yuka!" She took Sayuri's and Yuka's hands and sashayed them on the sports field in school. Most of the soccer players bumped into each other as they were in awe of the cute Akane dancing in delight.

"_Kami_, Akane…" Sayuri said.

"Yeah, Akane… _Kami_," Yuka echoed. "You know what? If people didn't know you better, you'd be a big flirt in their eyes, considering your past boys-are-toys attitude since a few weeks ago. Good thing the people here know you."

Akane stopped. "Big flirt?" She looked at the sky and thought about it. Yeah, she'd kissed Kuno, she'd accepted all tokens from her admirers, she'd mingled with the boys, she'd been with Ryouga, and now she's with Ranma… though people didn't know yet that she's broken up officially with Ryouga already. If she wasn't Akane, she'd call her a big flirt, too.

"Akane?" Yuka called. Akane snapped out of her fretful thoughts. "Aren't you gonna do anything about that?"

"What _that_?" Akane asked, losing track of everything that happened a few moments ago because of the reign of karma in her mind.

"That kiss mark Ranma gave you," answered Yuka. "Remember?" she added sarcastically, unaware of her friend's troubled state of mind.

Akane mouthed an "Oh" and said, "No, it's okay. It's kind of like Ranma's trademark or something. I guess it'll be hard for me and Ranma to tell everybody that we're us now, even though he confessed his undying love for me last night and swore he's never going to be ashamed and all that… I mean, of course he's been my fiancé for like a year now, but it's really different when we both accept that fact. It's like, _now we really are fiancées_."

"Okay," Sayuri began. "You know, that kiss mark's screaming out, Akane Tendo: Property of Ranma Saotome. What did you say about boys treating girls like property again?"

"Not this…" Akane started, frantically searching for the right words to explain to her two seemingly narrow-minded friends. "Think of it as a… a poster saying _Akane and Ranma are a real item now_."

"AKANE AND RANMA ARE A REAL ITEM NOW!" screamed a girl not too far from them. When the three of them looked, they saw that that girl was from a group called Butterflies, a sorority with members quite both famous and infamous in school, and it was a well-known fact that Ranma was in their top 5 hottie list.

Akane turned back, and so did Sayuri and Yuka as they continued walking. "Well, Akane," Yuki said, "now you don't have to worry about the school not knowing."

* * *

The sun was setting, and Ranma and Akane made their way through the streets of Nerima to their home. Walking side by side but a few meters away from each other, both were quiet… and if one didn't know they were a couple, he'd mistake them as two students who didn't know each other and just happened to walk the same direction.

"Okay, so–"

"You won't be ashamed when the people begin to know, will you?" interrupted Akane.

Ranma was caught unaware, that he didn't fully understand what she was talking about. "What do you mean?"

"You won't be… will you?" Akane gazed at him with a confused look in her eyes, which were doing the job of explicating to him what she just asked.

"_Kami-sama_," Ranma sighed with a trace of a smile on his lips. He took Akane's hand, led her into a grassy empty lot and pushed her gently so that her back was flat against the tall wooden fence and his body was against hers as the same heavenly fruity scent welcomed his nostrils again. Akane showed the same questioning look, but her eyes widened a bit when Ranma held her chin and leaned close that their lips were only an inch apart. "You're _Akane Tendo_. Why would I?" he smiled as his gaze shifted from her eyes to her lips, and after a split second he gave her a deep kiss that sent shivers throughout her body. He spotted a raw, pink kiss mark on her neck and chuckled. "That wouldn't happen to be of my doing, would it?"

Her hands crawled slowly to his shoulders as she giggled. "Whoever was I with last night?"

He kissed her once more. "Now do you want more of that?" Ranma asked with an obvious tone of longing in his voice, his hands crawling towards Akane's hips. "I don't mind staying in this grassy empty lot 'til morning if–"

"No… y-yeah. NO. Ranma, it's just that…" Akane started, the smile on her face fading. She didn't know how to continue. Nor did she know what put herself into in the first place, and she felt like a jerk. And her she didn't let her brain think a second before she said the same thing.

"I feel like a jerk."

Ranma's brow produced wrinkles on his forehead. "Mentally drunk again?"

She lightly pressed her crumpled fist against his chest and focused on not creating eye contact with those strong and deep blue eyes. "Ugh, maybe. Let's just go home, that was just nothing." Akane gently pushed Ranma from herself, but she did not walk more than one step before Ranma took her hand and held her close.

"I…" he whispered, kissing her forehead.

"Love…"

He kissed her nose.

"You…"

He kissed her lips.

"And there's nothing anybody can do about it."

Akane stood there, frozen. Is this the karma she was expecting? If it was, then she'd wish that karma would hit her over and over again! She had done many unforgivable things to Ranma before. It was she who was the insensitive jerk, not him. All the names he'd called her were nothing compared to the hurt she's done to him. In fact, she didn't deserve Ranma at all! He's loving, forgiving and assuring… as opposed to her – unconfident, hesitant, and a player.

"Now let's…" Ranma swept his arms under Akane, hiding his wince as a pulse of pain shot through his rib, and carried her, "…go home before the telephone starts ringing and everybody at home would be bewildered with screams from the people at school."

A few minutes later, the two arrived home. Ranma was summoned by Genma for a training match in the dojo, while Akane went straight to her room to quickly finish her homework and provide time for her mind to think about everything that happened so fast. Not a minute has passed, though, when the phone rang downstairs.

"Akane-chan, it's yours," Kasumi said after knocking on Akane's door.

"I'll be right there," Akane called as she slipped into her slippers. She went downstairs to answer the phone, and totally realized what she got herself into last night.

"Oh yeah, Jiro… that was today… I completely forgot! I'm sorry," she apologized sincerely.

"No, it's okay. I haven't waited long, and the setting in the restaurant's actually fine. So can you still come?"

_Having a boyfriend while having a date with another guy is a bad thing_, Akane told herself. _You should just cancel the date and tell Jiro and explain that you're in a relationship with Ranma. Okay?_

"Okay, why not?" Akane said breezily, all the while mentally pounding herself for saying the opposite of what she wanted to say. "I'll be there soon."

When they've finally hung up, Akane walked falteringly to her room, wondering why she's been such a weakling for the past few weeks. Engaging in a relationship with the guy she truly loves, she expected herself to finally have perspective and become strong again.

But she didn't. And now her mouth has been acting against her will.

Thus, she wasn't surprised when later she found herself inside a restaurant called Alfredo's Place, sitting across a brown-haired, blue-eyed guy she only knew in dance class (albeit handsome, in fairness)… another proof of her new theory that an alien resides in her body, controlling her every move and every word she utters.

"Before I called you, I thought you weren't really coming in the first place," Jiro said after giving wonderful comments on the short pink dress Akane was wearing.

"No, Jiro… I did agree when you called me up. I'm a woman of my word, I guess, but I forgot. I'm sorry. But really, I made up my mind to go."

_A stupid mistake it was, too_, Akane said to herself. She wondered what Ranma would do if he knew about this.

In the world of dating, there are basically two kinds of dates: the successful and the… well, unsuccessful. Akane was not actually the date-girl material in her early teenhood, since every guy who asked her out ended up hanging somewhere on a wall or a tree, or his body in pieces down some alley. But yes, she did go out a few times, and most were unsuccessful as many of her dates came to school the following day bawling and speechless.

And the date with Jiro was… mostly satisfying. He was a gallant man, after all, having discovered that he came from a very rich and respectable family. He treated her very well and showed good intentions. After they dined at Alfredo's where both got a little drunk on the wine, they headed to Jiro's Ferrari so he could drive her home.

* * *

_I just _know_ something's wrong,_ Ranma mused. He looked at the clock. 11 pm. All he discerned was that Akane went out to get something as Kasumi said, but he knew she should have been home at most eight.

He sat by the dinner table, the television his company for the night. Kasumi had gone off to sleep a few minutes ago, and so did the rest of the family an hour ago. Apparently they thought Akane was a big girl who could fend for herself. Ranma believed that, too - heck, Akane was a macho chick! She beat the guts out of the Furinkan Hentai Horde every morning in the past.

But he just _had_ a bad feeling.

Ranma rushed out of the house in a hurry, leaving the television on.

* * *

Akane and Jiro both let out a heartfelt laugh.

"Yeah, that even made her seem more of a lunatic!" Akane exclaimed.

"No, actually, she _is_ a lunatic. When we were ten she performed this weird ballet dance around the voltage regulator at school, then she shouted and cackled like some crazed voodoo master. Next thing we knew, she was rushed to the hospital! It appeared that she didn't know what the regulator was for, and she messed around with it and got electrocuted. She was so _stupid_!"

"Oh, so she and her brother never went to the same school… ever?"

"She has a _brother_?" Jiro raised in amazement. Having been schoolmates with Kodachi in St. Hebereke school had been weird enough with her around, and now this girl was telling him she had an equally, if not more, crazy sibling.

"Why, of course! The two crazed lunatics, Tatewaki and Kodachi Kuno. And then there's their father, the Hawaiian principal of Furinkan. I doubt their mother was even normal."

They burst in laughter again.

Akane was somewhat pink. Not only her cheeks, but her whole face. The effect of the wine was getting to her, and also to Jiro who drank as well. Akane had advised Jiro to hire a taxi instead, since the drink and drive thing was just not good. But since they were both drunk… well, people are not themselves when they're drunk.

"Watch out for that–"

_CRASH!_

Two minutes later, Akane spoke, her voice muffled. "If not for the white, puffs-when-the-car-crashes airbags, we're like…"

"Dead." Jiro finished it for her.

And then they both laughed at their own mishap. Yeah, there was the ruined Ferrari, and a horribly bent streetlight. But they were both drunk anyway.

The airbags deflated.

"Oh, lucky us," Jiro noted happily. The streetlight they just crashed into was right by the walls of Jiro's manor.

Akane was too drowsy to speak. Both were equally intoxicated, but Jiro was more used to it. When he turned twelve, he started drinking on account of his other rich friends' peer pressure, so he was more sober than Akane in the present state. He carried her inside his manor and laid her on the zebra-striped sofa as he sat beside her.

"Akane, you'd better be sober soon. Your dad's going to _kill_ me if he finds out you're drunk when you come home," he whispered in Akane's ear.

"My dad doesn't even know you. And I don't want to go home yet. I'm too tiiired…"

"Well, that's why you're coming home – so you could rest, right?" Jiro stifled a yawn to no avail.

"They'll understand. Besides," Akane said, glancing at the grandfather clock just ahead, "it's eleven. Everybody's asleep. Come to think of it, I'm sleepy too…" She yawned.

Yes, she was drunk, but being drunk didn't mean she's lost her full thinking ability. She knew her father was going to be mad the next morning, and Ranma would probably scold her and everything… he'd probably resort to calling her names again just to tell her off. However, she was very weary and felt lazy to go home and deal with the people there about the drinking she did. All she wanted was a good night's sleep, and she knew she could trust that Jiro would take care of her. She barely spent two months with the guy in dance class, but he was really nice and kindhearted and gentlemanly.

"The things I have to do for women…" Jiro muttered. "Fine. I'll have the guest room arranged. That okay with you?"

No answer.

"Akane?"

He looked at Akane. She was asleep. He heaved a sigh.

A few moments later, he received a bottle of brandy from his butler as he ordered for the guest room to be arranged. As he gulped the burning liquid like water from a plastic bottle, his senses were fogged. His vision was blurry for a second. And when he looked at Akane again, a familiar hunger rushed through him.

Deep in his mind, a feeble voice sighed. "And the record of four months and five days without the sexual instinct is broken."

A few minutes later, Akane thought Ranma was waking her up with his kisses. He kissed her lips, her ear, her jaw line, her neck. She didn't remember what happened, but she had a feeling she was asleep on her bed a few moments ago when Ranma entered her room to engage in some nightly activity.

"Ranma…"

The kisses stopped. Akane opened her eyes. "Why did you st–?"

_Kami,_ she thought. His lips came in contact with hers again as she took in the strong smell of brandy, and his tongue was halfway inside her mouth as it invaded, but she pushed him away.

"Jiro, what are you doing?" Akane sat up and a ripple of pain rushed in her head. As she looked around, she realized she was nowhere she knew. There was a warm fire burning in the fireplace a few meters away, providing the only light in the Victorian inspired room. Jiro sat right beside her on a red canopy bed. She closed her eyes for a second as she massaged her temples. Maybe she was just dreaming.

But when she felt Jiro pushing her down, she knew this was no dream.

"_What_ are you doing?" she demanded again.

He maneuvered himself so that he was on top of her. Akane tried to push him but her head felt like splitting into half as she did so. Without a word, he slid down the straps of her pink dress.

At this point Akane tried slapping Jiro like mad, but most of them didn't even reach him on account of her being dizzy, until he pinned her hands on the bed with his. She kicked him away and was almost successful until he pinned down her legs with his. She was trapped.

"Jiro, stop!" She yelled angrily as he groped her chest with his tongue. She tried hitting her knee to his groin but only came a little close.

For a second, Jiro let go of her right hand so he could push Akane's dress up… for the ultimate prize lies underneath. That was a mistake. With all the strength she had left, Akane landed a punch on Jiro's cheek.

"Hentaaaiii!"

It sent him flying to the wall.

"NEVER," Akane gasped as she sat up. "DO THAT TO ME," she put on her stilettos and walked towards a groaning Jiro. "_AGAIN_," she grumbled dangerously as she put the heel of her stiletto right at the spot where Jiro's private part lay and stepped on it.

"AAAAAGH!" was all Jiro could shout, with his broken back and scrambled eggs.

Akane turned around to face the door.

And then she knew this probably was a dream. A terrible nightmare.

Ranma's stunned figure met her eyes.

"I don't think we're in Kansas anymore, Toto," she sighed as the last bit of strength left in her body ebbed away.

* * *

Ranma enjoyed the tickling sensation under his feet as he soaked them in the koi pond. He was lying down on the grass in the Tendo's lawn, facing the sun which was beginning to burn his skin. His eyes were focused on some puff of cloud, but he felt like the heat was starting to blur his eyesight.

"Baka," he started out of nowhere, talking to nobody in particular with a hint of a grudge in his voice. "That baka hentai. Jiro."

His eyes swept the sky and he saw a cloud form that made his heart flutter with two different feelings. Akane's face made out of cotton beamed at him from up above, making him feel all tingly inside… but also annoyed.

How many times did she have to be reminded that she's an outrageously beautiful and desirable woman that ever since her performance during and after her debut night, men of all ages have been desperate just to take a look at her in personal? And how on earth didn't she realize that this publicity cost her her privacy, and that people might be sucking up to her all the time just to get inside her panties?

"Baka!" he grumbled.

"Ranma-kun!" Kasumi's voice rang from upstairs. "Akane's awake now."

As if his life depended on it, Ranma jumped up in a flash, wiped his feet on the kitchen rug, and dashed upstairs where Kasumi was just closing Akane's door, greeting him with nothing more than a friendly smile.

Ranma opened the door slowly and saw Akane lying under the covers of her bed. Her eyes met his with a… somewhat withdrawn, rueful look.

He closed the door behind him. Then without warning, he was suddenly beside Akane on her bed and held her in a tight embrace. "Baka," he whispered before kissing her. "Baka," he said again, giving her a deeper kiss. Akane just gazed intently, a bit incredulously into his blue eyes.

"Why'd you run off with that guy anyway? I know you've known him for a while, but you can't be too careful now. You… you could have–"

"_I'm sorry_…" Akane said. She held his face with both hands. "I'm sorry for being such a stupid girl." She meant to say a lot of things but she wasn't able to continue. A second before she began, she knew this was the start of a breakdown. She felt guilty about everything she had ever done, and she felt guilty about everything she was doing. Last night just proved how unfaithful she was, and how she could make the most stupid of decisions, drunk or not.

Ranma was confused for a moment, but decided to keep his brain intact. There was no way he would allow seeing her hurt. "You're still drunk, aren't you?" he chuckled. "Let's just eat lunch, shall we? You haven't had breakfast." Without waiting for a reply, he carried her all the way down the end of the stairs. Their parents still didn't know that they were a pair now, and he wanted them to know by Akane and him telling them together.

Maybe tonight, when Akane would be feeling a little better.

* * *

"Kasumi onee-chan, have you noticed something different about Ranma lately?" Akane asked in the most casual voice she could produce as she was making devil's chocolate cake with her sister the following afternoon.

The eldest Tendo sister was just finishing the process of mixing the chocolate ingredients in a bowl. "Different? In what way?"

"Well… different in a… _different_ way."

She began putting the batter into the cake mould. "Is different bad?" Kasumi asked.

"No… yes… m-maybe," Akane stuttered.

"Well, _you_ have been different, haven't you?"

"What?" She was different? Okay, she knew she had gone through a few changes in her wardrobe with all the girly dresses and high heels from the recent shopping sprees she had with Sayuri and Yuka, but other than that, she was certain she didn't change one bit. "How?"

"You should know that yourself, Akane-chan," Kasumi smiled, "but since people are barely conscious of the changes going on with their personality, I'll help." She tasted the batter and licked her upper lip contentedly.

"Akane, you've been… subtle lately. Delicate. More feminine."

"Oh, that would have to be my choice of clothes. I know it's been too severe a change, but Sayuri and Yuki have influenced me a lot. Maybe… I have finally left that tomboy in me to wither and die," Akane laughed at her own words.

"No, apart from that…" Kasumi said, putting everything in the oven to bake. She began washing the utensils and bowls they used. "Your manner of speaking, your gait – everything. Since… well, a few days ago. The signs began a few weeks ago, but the drastic change was right before the night we went to the hot pools."

Akane took a deep breath and raised her eyebrows. "Really?"

"And if I didn't know better, I'd say that what's emerging is the… weak Akane."

"_Weak_? Oh, no, no! Kasumi onne-chan, you have got to be wrong. Weak? _Me_? I handled a flexible-muscled rapist last night all by myself!"

"Emotionally weak, that is," Kasumi added, making Akane's recently-spoken words of no use. Thus, Kasumi once again proved that she was a cure and an answer to her little sister's aches and questions. As the answer to Kasumi's statement dawned on Akane, it was as if Kasumi had been dawned as well. Like she could read her sister's mind. And Akane knew her sister could, with the smile at the corner of the eldest Tendo's lips.

"So what about Ranma, then?" Akane stammered, changing the topic. "Noticed any changes?"

"Changes like what?" Kasumi asked as she finished washing and dried her hands. She stood by the counter and looked at Akane who was standing by the table.

"Well, he's been nice lately… and he's more confident. The nice thing I could understand…"

"But the confident thing, you cannot," a deep woman's voice butted in.

Both Akane and Kasumi looked at the person by the door, who happened to be the middle sister. She grabbed a stool and sat right beside Kasumi.

"So what do you know?" Akane asked. Before Nabiki could reply, she added rather contemptuously, "And how much?"

Nabiki chuckled. "_Kami-sama_, sis. It's like you can't stand just being with your sisters for a talk. Is this so bad?"

Akane rolled her eyes and sighed. "Okay, okay. Fine. I'm sorry." She got herself a glass of water. "So… Ranma's been weird, huh? I mean, he's always been weird, but… you know. He's weirder."

"Yeah. Well. Maybe it's the fact that he saw you cuddling with Ryouga when you were naked in the hot pools," Nabiki said, holding her hand up as Akane was about to say something in protest, her face scrunched up in utmost complaint. "Or the fact that you cook and sing and dance like you're not Akane at all… or the fact that you're his girlfriend now. Does that help?"

"I–" Akane started, then stopped. "How did you know?"

"Oh, I don't know, sis… maybe because the news is all over school. Kuno-baby was just fuming when he found out and was all crazy. You might not know, but Ranma got into some trouble with that angry bull – yesterday Kuno managed to hit him in the rib with his stick, and he's been shambling in walking. And the guys have been mourning because Akane Tendo has finally chosen the diamond in the rough. You should have seen them – it was like you've walked into a funeral instead of a school. And mind you, right after you left the house last night, the phone was ringing like mad. Your friends have been calling to check if it was true."

"No way!" Akane gasped. Not just because of the whole mourning thing and the whole school knowing, or Kuno hitting Ranma. Everything was just worthy of a _no way!_ exclamation. She had actually wondered how to tell the people about Ranma, but now she didn't know it the fact that they already knew would be a pro or a con. And then her mind drifted back to Ranma in one moment, where Nabiki sensed she should explain to her little sister the ways of the male.

"See," Nabiki went on, "one of the main reasons guys are irresolute and hesitant about themselves, and plainly about just everything, is because of the girls – specifically _the_ girl. In case you haven't noticed since the very first day you met Ranma, he's been skeptical and contemptuous when he's around you, which is his version of being unsure about himself. He knew he was doing it the wrong way because calling you an ugly tomboy all the time was no way to impress you, but he just acts all weird when he's around you. And then…" Nabiki inhaled, having run out of air as she was explaining to her sister.

Kasumi checked inside the oven and nodded contentedly – the cake was almost baked to perfection. "And then what, Nabiki?" she asked as she closed the oven.

"And then he was heartbroken for the thousandth time, until the day you were both all mushy and after a few eons of talk, you finally decided to go together."

"No, Nabiki," Kasumi interrupted, "actually, it was night. The rooftop scene thing, remember?"

"Yeah, I heard you both talking, Akane," Nabiki chuckled. "Your conversation with Ranma was just audible from inside the house… and that's how I knew in the first place."

"Oh, you nasty little eavesdropper…" Akane muttered, but she was still eager to hear more about what her sister was going to tell her about Ranma.

"Let's just fast forward this, I'm running out of saliva. Akane, the reason Ranma's confident now is YOU."

She just _had_ to blink. _Her?_ Wasn't she the reason why he was not confident in the first place? "Okay, wait. How come?"

"All that he's ever wanted was YOU. He was always cynical because of you. Technically, you brought out the annoying Ranma that we all know! And that night when he just let it all out and he finally got what he wanted his whole life in this dojo, everything about him changed – and it was obvious to the people who had the eye and observe. He felt confident with you by his side, which in his version is being all sweet and as un-Ranma-ish as possible. All it took was the person he's longed for the whole time – you – without the whole I-hate-you-and-I'll-mallet-you-everyday-if-I-have-to attitude. So the change thing? It was all for the better." Nabiki flung both her eyebrows up for a second, signaling the end of her speech.

"Yes, Akane-chan… and that just makes me wonder why you're so uncomfortable with it," Kasumi noted.

"I just wasn't used to it," Akane replied quietly. "Yesterday after school, we… made out in an empty lot a few blocks from here, and he was just so… directive and sure about everything he was doing."

"Tsk, tsk. Then you'd better get used to it, because I'll be damned if Ranma would ever let you go. He loves you more than he loves his narcissistic self," Nabiki laughed.

Kasumi smiled. Of course she had noticed since day one what Ranma and Akane had, and it was just sheer attraction that they didn't want to show. And after almost a year of watching – and suffering with their rocky emotions – the love story was to have a happy ending at last.

The oven rang, and Kasumi took the chocolate cake out. "Now, Akane, would you like to do the honor of covering it with chocolate icing? After this we could serve it to everybody… they'd better get used to Tendo Akane's good cooking."

"Sure!" Akane said more enthusiastically than expected. Everything was clear now – all the doubts she had before she walked into the room were gone. Now all she had to do was assure Ranma that everything was okay and she loved him very much. That would make the perfect icing on the cake.


	11. A Grand Reunion

**Author's Notes:** I spent approximately 11 hours editing all the past chapters, with my butt stuck to the computer chair the whole time. The first 3 chapters were the hardest, since I wrote them eons ago, when I had _no idea_ how to write fan fiction. And I mean NO IDEA.

**Disclaimer:** Not mine, not yours, but hers.

* * *

**Changed Overnight**

**Chapter Eleven: A Grand Reunion**

"Here comes the bride… swelling with pride… lala-lala-la-lala-lalala!"

The drunken singing voices of Genma Saotome and Soun Tendo rang throughout the neighborhood as Akane finished putting the last of her schoolbooks in her bag. It was 9:00, almost time for sleep – but not after she'd taken a nice, hot bath, which she had prepared in the bathroom a few moments ago. The family had a generous amount of lip-smacking stuffed turkey for the main course at dinner and moist, sweet devil's chocolate cake for dessert, courtesy of Kasumi, herself, and a little help from Nabiki, that she was too tired to study her lessons because of a full stomach. She collapsed on her bed and faced the white ceiling as everyone's happy faces were etched in her mind, playing like an old 1970's movie. It had been a long time since the people in the dojo were that happy… or probably if they've had joyous moments before, nothing rivaled what took place tonight.

Ranma and Uncle Genma Saotome had a father-son fight again as they always did during and after sparring. They were taunting and hitting each other when they entered the dining room. Her father was quietly reading the newspaper as always, unmindful of the noise around him as Kasumi, Nabiki, and Akane laid the food on the table.

It was as if Kami-sama entered the room – Ranma and Uncle Genma stopped fighting and Soun Tendo put his newspaper down. Even Happosai, whom they saw outside the dojo screeching "What a haul, what a haul!" with a big bag of panties and brassieres over his shoulder, stopped and proceeded to the dining room. "Mmm!" he sighed as he took in the luscious smell of the food that made him hungrier than he already was. "I feel like I'm in heaven surrounded by beautiful girls!"

"Settle down, everyone, we're about to eat dinner now," Kasumi implored with a smile. Everybody sat down by the table (the men's mouths were watering) with their eyes focused on the huge pile of food in front of them.

"Kasumi-chan, you've outdone yourself yet again!" Soun praised his eldest daughter.

"Oh, no, father… Nabiki and Akane helped, too."

The men glanced at Akane, and then at the food with a somewhat different look. "A-akane… helped?"

"Yes. Actually, she was the one who made the stuffing and roasted the turkey to perfection."

Four tentative gulping sounds were heard in the room.

"Oh, come on," Nabiki butted in exasperatedly, "the food won't smell _that_ good if it tasted _bad_. Akane's been improving her cooking, and she's done a pretty good job at it."

It was Ranma – oh, how sweet of him! – who first split his chopsticks and put into his mouth some turkey. He had almost forgotten how Akane had made those terrible cookies a few days ago, but being her fiancé, he had to be the first to prove to them Akane's cooking was now better. He prepared his stomach for whatever might happen…

Akane, still touched by her otherwise cold sister's defense to her cooking, mouthed a "Thanks!" to Nabiki. The middle Tendo sister replied impassively with a nod, but Akane swore she saw a smile forming at the corner of her lips. Of course Akane knew the turkey was a success – she followed every instruction in Nigella Lawson's cookbook – but she couldn't help being nervous. She held on to the edge of the table as Ranma chewed the turkey meat in his mouth.

"Any second and the boy's going to have an indigestion…" Genma whispered to his master Happosai, who was gaping at everything in front of him. He was a master of martial arts and certainly knew many, many things, but he couldn't decipher how a gorgeous-smelling dish could taste bad. Ah, Akane Tendo was always a mystery…

Until Ranma, with a grin on his face, exclaimed, "Delicious!"

As he got his bowl and filled it to the top with turkey and rice, Soun muttered, "The boy's lost it…" Yet something told him that Ranma was not joking about anything he'd said. After all, the turkey was mouthwatering – more than enough… so he gathered his courage and tasted a bit of it himself.

"Akane, this is wonderful!" he exulted in joy, his voice rather like the time his first daughter Kasumi learned how to walk.

That seemed to wrap things up, and right after Kasumi announced, "Dig in!" the doubtful faces of Genma Saotome and Grandpa Happosai were submerged in their bowls, chowing down as much food as possible. The three sisters followed suit.

It certainly was a victory for Akane.

And to top it all off, Ranma cleared his throat when three quarters of the meal had been consumed. He looked at Akane, who was a Nabiki and a Kasumi away from where he was seated, and when she flashed him a smile, he knew it was the right time.

"Folks, Akane and I have… uh… something to tell you."

The old men's heads popped from their bowls with surprise, and Kasumi's (even Nabiki's) face showed anticipation. Was this _the_ moment? After a year of spying, setups, and failed plans, was the declaration about to happen?

"What have you got to say, boy?" Genma Saotome asked his son, hiding his delight in vain. Grandpa Happosai was staring wide-eyed at Ranma, his hands tightly clutching his chopsticks and rice bowl… he had a feeling he knew what was coming. Soun didn't even care to hide the grin that reached his ears.

Ranma gulped. "Well…we all know that… uhm, Akane and I are fiancées, right?" He gulped again. That was a nice start, he thought satirically. "And… uhm…"

"And we've always loathed each other before," Akane continued, the look on Ranma's face saying she just saved him, and the look on everybody else's face saying they're grasping her every word. "We… uh, know about the forces of nature… and sometimes, well…"

Okay. She wasn't making any sense.

Soun and Genma were leaning in so close to them that their heads might have fallen into the food.

"We've decided to come together as a couple. Finally." Ranma blurted out.

"Not just out of respect for your decision," she bridged, motioning to their fathers, "but out of our own will."

For a second, no one moved.

And then a loud noise of drums and trumpets filled not only the dining room, not only the Tendo residence, but the whole of Nerima.

Genma and Soun were up on their feet, dancing to the loud racket they've created. Confetti showered from up above, and a banner on the wall popped out of nowhere, showing: "HAPPY WEDDING! RANMA AND AKANE!"

The rest of the family got up, too. Ranma was about to embrace Akane when Happosai got his glass and spilled the water on top of Ranma's head. "What about me, Ranma-chan?" he whined as he landed on top of the redhead's ample breasts. "When you get married, you're going to leave me!"

"Waaaaaaaah!" shrieked Ranma-chan. "HENTAI JIJIIII!" She grabbed the old man by his clothes and kicked him outside the vicinity, until he was just a little sparkle in the dark sky. She was wheezing when Akane dropped a white little towel on her head.

"Here you go, baka," she giggled. Ranma-chan rubbed her hair dry as she and Akane watched their fathers boogie like wrigglers in stagnant water, singing the lyrics from the bridal march one often hears when the bride walks the aisle on her wedding day.

"Oh my," Kasumi could only mumble – she's never seen Genma and Soun so wiggly and happy, even in the past false marriage alarms. Nabiki was taking pictures of her father and her uncle dancing with the festive music – the photos would come in handy for future blackmailing and humiliation threats. Akane could only laugh when her father grabbed Ranma-chan by the hand and danced with her. She was starting to get dizzy from being twirled about by the two fathers in cloud nine.

Akane breathed deep, marking the end of her wonderful reverie as she got up from her bed. "Nothing better than a nice, hot bath after a nice, blissful night," she sighed. She noticed that her window was open, so she decided to close it – and she was about to do so, when a small black blur entered her room through it in a split second. "Wha–?"

The snorts of a pig entered her ears. She just had enough time to close her window before her pet pig jumped through and snuggled right on her chest. "Bweeee!"

"P-chan!" Akane giggled fondly as she embraced her pet. "You've been gone for a while. How are you?"

She was answered with a couple of continuous snorts and a whining "Bwee…" When she held her pet before her, she noticed that he didn't look too good.

"P-chan, you're crying," she whispered as she dried the piglet's damp cheeks. Then her face brightened. "I have the perfect solution to that. Let's relax, shall we? We'll spend a night talking to each other about _everything_."

She stripped her clothes off (it came with P-chan's nosebleed, as always) and wrapped a towel around her body. "Come, let's go." Without a second thought, P-chan hopped into her arms and relished her fruity scent, not realizing where they were heading. When they entered the bathroom, the wonderful aroma of the bath oils that Akane had put into the water in the tub filled their lungs, making P-chan dizzy. "Poor baby," she murmured, kissing P-chan's snout. P-chan perked up like he was doused in cold water. His eyes watered even more and he looked miserable than ever. He didn't even realize that he was coming nearer and nearer to the hot water…

"_Wait_!" Ranma-chan's voice interrupted P-chan and Akane's quiet moment. He barged into the room and skidded to a stop just a meter away from them. Because it was so sudden, Akane had no time to react to what Ranma-chan just did. Everybody in the room froze, but thoughts were running in their heads a thousand miles a second.

P-chan now realized where he was, and what could have happened when Ranma didn't stop it. _Aw, damn_, he thought. _DAMN!_

Ranma-chan knew that Ryouga owed her his life free from Akane's wrath the moment she found out that he was P-chan, and she certainly felt laudable for barging into a room where Akane was standing almost naked except for the minute towel around her body… _beautiful_… wide-eyed in surprise… what can she do but stare?

Akane's twitching left eyebrow threatened to go all the way up her scalp. A few veins in her forehead were visibly throbbing…

"A-Akane!" Ranma-chan stammered. She didn't have to have a third eye to know what was going to happen if she didn't stop her. "You've got it all wrong!"

"Ranma," Akane whispered dangerously, approaching Ranma-chan until they were face-to-face. "I'm sure you can wait for the honeymoon."

Ranma-chan slipped behind Akane and backed off until the bathtub was right behind her. Akane drew near the redhead, pointing her index finger at her. Soon, she was too near that Ranma-chan ended up falling into the warm water, transforming her into a boy. He quickly got up and grabbed P-chan from Akane's hand.

"It's not what it seems!" were Ranma's last words as he ran off with P-chan in his hand, closing the door behind him as he fled.

_What in the world…?_ Akane mused confusedly. _Something's up with him…_

* * *

After a quick trip to the kitchen to get a kettle of hot water, Ranma went up the roof and laid P-chan beside him.

"You're welcome, Ryouga," Ranma said as he poured the hot water on the black piglet.

A jiffy later, a wet Ryouga was squatting on the Tendo dojo's roof tiles.

"We're both on the same boat, don't worry," Ranma assured. "We're both _wet_."

The sky was not too dark, though the moon and stars weren't in sight. Their silhouettes were illuminated with help of a streetlight a few yards away. A passive silence hovered around them.

"Now I know where Akane gets her scent," Ryouga noted after a few minutes.

Ranma noticed it, too. After falling into the bathtub, he's been smelling like…

"Oranges and strawberries," they said in unison. It was followed by a slight chuckle from both of them.

"Thanks, Ranma."

"Already said you're welcome."

Ryouga looked at him. "No, I meant… thank you for _everything_. I…" He broke off, not knowing how to continue. Ranma sensed that Ryouga was supressing a weeping session, so he decided to add some humor in the conversation.

"Is that a Shishi Hokodan attack I'm sensing?"

The Lost Boy smiled and sniffed. "I'm not _that_ depressed."

"Good to know that," Ranma answered, seizing his red shirt and drawing it near his nose… the smell was just too heavenly and it brought back the memories of what happened on that fateful night when they made up and… and did more than that. "So how's the job?" he asked.

Ryouga snapped out of the reverie he was having on his own. "F-fine." He took off his bandana. "I finally found one thing I could do accurately… lifeguarding isn't actually a breeze, but once you get used to it, it might as well be as easy as bathing a black piglet, as long as you're using cold water."

"Well said," Ranma agreed, grinning.

"And something funny actually happened after the night when… when you all went to the hot pools," Ryouga went on with a weak chuckle. "The female customers… _tripled_, and I began working full-time in the ladies' section due to, er… popular demand."

Ranma wrinkled his nose and smiled. "You scalawag. So naked women are a part of your lifestyle now?"

"Of all shapes and sizes. But that didn't stop me from having a nosebleed when I saw Akane strip off her clothes."

They both laughed. Then silence.

The last time they talked decently, it had been the other way around. It was already late at night and Ranma couldn't' sleep, so he went to the kitchen and ended up talking with Ryouga instead. Back then, he was in cloud nine as he told Ranma he felt great. He kind of spilled his fears, too – that he was scared that Akane would know about him being P-chan, because it might be the reason she'd hate him and break up with him.

Well, it wasn't.

But Ranma prevented it from happening all the same. He promised he wouldn't tell Akane. And what he did tonight was actually more than what he indicated in the promise, because he regarded Ryouga as a true friend, and he wanted Ryouga to be able to tell the truth to Akane before somebody else did. He persuaded himself that it wouldn't be him.

"So, how's life?"

"Fantastic," Ranma replied. "Great. I… I don't know how to put it in words, but you get the point."

"Akane always renders you speechless, doesn't she?" Ryouga remarked, a tone of faint bitterness engraved in his voice.

Ranma sensed it. "Look, man. I know it's been hard, especially because it all happened when you were gone–"

"In Hawaii, where I learned how to swim."

"Gone in Hawaii, where you learned how to swim…" Ranma echoed. He was about to continue, but he stopped. "So Nabiki wasn't kidding when she said you were in Hawaii?"

"I don't know how she knew, but she was right."

"Er… yeah. Nabiki could be all-knowing clairvoyant."

"She could've been an oppressive empress in her past life."

"But now she's a money-hungry ice queen."

"Yeah…"

"True."

"So… you were saying?"

"Y-yeah," Ranma stuttered, picking up where he left. "I know it's been hard, but things like this happen. I'm not really good with this psychology thing, but… well, _I'm sorry_. Really. Because I know how you're feeling right now."

"It's okay. I-I know you do."

"Uh-huh." Of course he did. Going after Akane was not just a military camp obstacle course, and losing her was even worse. "You're strong, Ryouga. You'll come through."

"I _am_ coming through, actually," Ryouga said, smiling to the starless sky. "While I was on duty, there was this girl… I saved her when she was swimming in the deep part of the pool and had a leg cramp. She's from the country and visiting the city with her father. Her name's Akari, and she's… she's _amazing_."

Ranma raised his eyebrow and smiled slyly. "Snagged her already?"

"W-we're going out."

"That's awesome! Good for you, man."

"Thanks," Ryouga rejoined. "I… told Akari about Akane, and she's been helping me get over her. It's hard, but I'm getting to it."

"Finally, huh?"

"Yes, _finally_. It's really… difficult. When you've invested everything on something, it's hard to let it go. But Akari's really doing a good job in coaching me, so I'm on my way to recovery."

"You do that," Ranma concurred. "That Akari sure is something, isn't she?"

"She's _everything_," Ryouga replied, smiling. "In fact, sometimes she reminds me of Akane. They're both… clumsy – that's one way to put it – but there are just some things that they do better than anybody can. They both act like they're all grown up, but in reality they're still little innocent kids trapped in beautiful bodies."

"The right words," Ranma agreed, nodding his head.

_This guy's good at these things now_, Ranma thought to himself. _It's like this Akari's totally changed him. Well… I'm happy for Ryouga. Good for him._

Ryouga sighed. "I'm just… just glad that I left Akane in good hands."

Ranma beamed. "No problem."

"Take care of her, or I'll mince you up and put you in a can of cat food," Ryouga went on. Then, seeing Ranma's furrowed brows, he added, "Just kidding." He smiled. "I heard your fathers singing the bridal march a while ago. Congratulations, Ranma."

He held out his hand. Ranma received and shook it.

"Thanks."

They just sat there for a moment, gazing at the dark sky. The sight of it put them in some kind of a spell… a peaceful enchantment. Moments like what was happening did not take place all the time in the real world, and the two friends enjoyed it.

"_Now I'm almost over you…"_ Ryouga began singing, not taking his eyes off the sky. _"I almost shook these blues…"_

Ranma was perplexed. The guy was singing! And what was worse was he knew the song, so he couldn't help joining in.

"_When you come back around_

_After painting the town, you'll see_

_I'm almost over you…"_

The song ended with a fit of chuckling.

"Man, that was gay," Ranma remarked.

"I know," Ryouga answered, laughing. "Couldn't help it, the song just popped into my head."

"You're good, Ryouga," Ranma said finally, grinning.

"You too." Ryouga replied, his grin just as wide as Ranma's.

All of a sudden, a terrified, high-pitched scream broke the silence that the two were taking pleasure in. And they both knew who made it.

"Akane!"

They hurried back inside the house, but Akane wasn't in the bathroom anymore. They dashed to her room and found that the door was locked, so Ranma kicked it open and the bolts that held it were destroyed. Akane wasn't there either, but the window was wide open. They watched the curtains flutter.

"Who could have kidnapped her?" Ryouga asked frenetically.

"It could be that Jiro guy…" Ranma assumed, and then thought otherwise. "But Akane already kicked the man out of him!"

"What happened to my daughter?" Soun demanded as he barged in the room, followed by Genma. The door next to the room opened, and Nabiki stopped right outside.

"Somebody took her away," Ranma answered, his adrenaline rushing. "We need to find her!"

Thus, the search for Akane began in the middle of night. Genma Saotome and Soun Tendo went together to search the parks. Nabiki woke Kasumi up, and they searched the house, but they didn't find Akane so they went to look elsewhere. Ranma and Ryouga leaped from one rooftop to another, all the while shouting Akane's name.

* * *

"You want more of that, Tendo, huh? More?"

Akane received a fifth punch to her belly made by a gymnastics club that almost rendered her unconscious.

She had already put on her nightdress and was almost about to go to bed when her window burst open. Two people bound her hands behind her, and tied a red bandana around her head to cover her mouth after she'd screamed once. Then they got out of the room thought the window, as quick as lightning.

"You not follow deal, hentai-girl."

"_Ee whsn' my faut!" _Akane tried to say, but her speech was muffled.

"Said something?" the leoatard-clad girl asked, hitting Akane's stomach again with the same club.

The purple-haired culprit removed the bandana from Akane's mouth, figuring that in an isolated place like this abandoned construction site, nobody would even hear them.


	12. Saving Akane Tendo

**Author's Notes:** I have committed a grave sin. I am so sorry for not updating for a million years! And although I did promise that I'd update after I've finished _The Diary of Akane Tendo_, here I am, updating ahead. I know that's not enough to compensate for my very, very bad deed, but I hope I made it in time just before your strings of patience get cut… Now read on, we wouldn't want to keep Ranma and Akane waiting! (",)

Okay. Wait.

Aaaagh my mind was struck numb when I saw that I haven't updated for almost SIX MONTHS! Aaagh!

I know that most of you might have to read the story again to catch up (I am so, so terribly sorry, down to the last drop of my idle blood); you don't have to read-READ everything, just skim over and stuff. It always works. Just a little advice from someone with experience. (",) The later part of this chapter, by the way, is inspired by the episode "Akane Goes To The Hospital". Quite similar, but I think the events here are nicer.

God, I am such an evil, ghastly, cruel person. SIX MONTHS! _SIX!_ I am never, _ever_ doing that again… Okay. Go.

**Disclaimer:** Not mine, not yours, but Rumiko Takahashi's.

* * *

**Changed Overnight**

**Chapter Twelve: Saving Akane Tendo**

When she was eight years old, Akane had been immediately volunteered by her classmates to play the part of _Awiyao_, the lead male character in the upcoming school play, _The Wedding Dance_. She wanted so badly to be a part of the play because she knew everyone would be watching, and she sort of wanted to feel what it was like under the spotlight. If Akane were any other ordinary kid in her time, she would have instantly said NO and explicated that if she were to star in a play, she should be playing the part of her own gender and not the opposite.

But Akane Tendo was not an ordinary kid. Not in the abnormal Down syndrome way, but she was just too unique a child to be ordinary. She often had a very sweet temper, but when it reaches boiling point, even the Al Qaeda should be warned. Many times she had whined to her father so he would buy her the newest toy from the toy store, but there were instances when, even though her heart ached painfully for that Barbie doll or that three-foot high Hello Kitty stuff toy, she didn't complain – those were the times when she noticed that everybody at home seemed to be in a diet, and eleven-year old Kasumi would sigh when she and her dad opened the empty cupboard in the kitchen.

The little Akane was smart, too – when the teacher first introduced to them the multiplication table, she didn't even have to study hard to get an A _plus_ in her card. Nonetheless, she liked studying in her room, even though with her IQ, studying wasn't really a necessity. She always liked the feel of the school books' pages against her fingertips whenever she turned the paper. The way the pencil just fit like a glove in her hand was a wonderful feeling as well.

And then there was her ability to sacrifice. No, they weren't big sacrifices, not the way that William guy in _Braveheart_ gave his life for the freedom of others. They were the little ones, like the time when she decided not to buy anything with her lunch money starting September so she could buy everybody at home the best presents on Christmas.

Another example was the school play. She really didn't feel like playing the part of a guy, but her classmates counted on her to do it. So instead of contradicting, she shut her mouth, smiled affably, and agreed.

However, it didn't stop there. Two years later when she turned ten, she played _Romeo_ in _Romeo and Juliet_. Oh, how she envied her friend Yuka who played the part of _Juliet_, but again she shut her mouth when she wanted to complain about the unfairness of life, and just gave her playing of the role her best effort.

But she had her lucky break after not too long. When she was eleven, she was supposed to play the first brother in _The Two Brothers_, but the girl assigned to play the princess came down with a terrible fever just three days before the play, and since Akane memorized the princess' lines, she was asked by the director to play the part of the princess. Hiroshi replaced her as the first brother (some guy whose name Akane cannot seem to recall played the second brother, who was the evil one).

_The Two Brothers_ is a play about a horrible dragon-like monster that eats young maidens for lunch. Its greatest meal is that of the princess, whose parents have no choice; otherwise the monster would attack the country and destroy it to smithereens. So in the play, Akane was chained to a big papier-mâché rock by the lake where the monster lived. During the practices, she couldn't help complaining because the chains were always too tight when the stage manager used them to bind her to the rock. But she bore with it for three days, knowing that it was all part of the whole thing.

The play was held on a Saturday night. All the students, parents, and teachers were there. Little Akane knew that it was the last time those chains were going to hurt her. Finally, Hiroshi, the good brother who has constantly sought the princess' love, rescued her in the end. She could never forget her final line in the play, which went, "Oh, my princely knight, you have saved me from the monster! Do take my gratitude!"

"What might that be, your highness?" Hiroshi, the first brother, asked.

And thus went the short kissing scene, a little peck given by little Akane on the corner of little Hiroshi's lips, which was the reason why he always had a crush on her all these years.

"My hero," the princess sighed. The brother married the princess in the end, and they lived happily ever after.

About six years later, the Akane Tendo we all know wondered with her eyes closed why she's having a nightmare about those chains. They happened many years ago, and she really didn't mind the pain much. After all, the play was successful in the end, and her family was proud of her for effectively playing a female role for the first time.

Akane opened her eyes.

Two blurred images of green and red. Darkness loomed behind them.

She blinked.

Two blurred images of an indigo-haired woman in red and a black-haired woman in green.

She wanted to rub her eyes, but she couldn't. She struggled and realized that she was chained to a metal chair. And then she wanted to clutch her stomach. It was hurting. Throbbing. Very badly. It wasn't the kind she felt when she'd missed breakfast, lunch, or dinner. It didn't come from within; instead, it came from the outside and excruciatingly worked its way to her guts.

"Ugh," she groaned. It was muffled by something that covered her mouth.

The wind blew through the scene. It was very chilly. Too chilly, in fact, that Akane felt like she was walking naked on the streets on a winter night. She looked and saw that she was wearing one of her thinnest nightdresses, a white one made out of silk (in her head, there was a brief but distant flash of her putting it on when she was still inside her room). When she shivered once, it multiplied into chain reactions and never stopped.

She sneezed. It made her feel all the soreness in her body that had been numbed by the cold over the time that she had fainted in exhaustion and pain. "Kami-sama, help me…" she murmured, her voice muffled again.

Her mind was disorganized. It was too dark and cold and the two statues in front of her didn't help, either. She frantically asked herself her name, and was relieved when she still remembered who she was – the image of a yellow duck sign that said "Akane" on her door helped – and that she had a father and two sisters. There was a remote image of a black piglet, and she had a feeling that she loved that little creature dearly.

And then there was a pigtailed guy wearing a red polo shirt. The thought of him made her heart beat fast; the ice that had frozen the blood-pumping muscles inside her chest melted upon the image of the mysterious person. She wondered who he was to her, but before she could find out, she felt her head being tugged violently as the cloth that covered her mouth was ripped off by the indigo-haired woman she saw earlier, whom she mistook as a statue because of being too inanimate.

"Stubborn, stubborn, stubborn… that's what you are, Tendo," the brunette a few feet away said with a smirk. She was wearing a green and white jacket over her green leotard, leaving her legs bare. Her right hand was gripping a long gymnastics ribbon, and the other held a black club that seemed too familiar. "When I say deal, I don't only mean keeping my end of it, but yours as well. That was one stubborn, stupid move for somebody who has got every man in my school fantasizing about you."

Akane was confused. What did the girl mean?

The gymnast whipped her ribbon towards a light post, and a weak fluorescent light flickered on.

"She shine only one night, and her head already big," the girl who ripped the bandana off Akane's mouth sniped. "Too big to remember deal she had with Shampoo. So what if her voice good and she attract every man in Nerima because of stupid concert? It not excuse to forget deal."

"True, my friend, this Kodachi Kuno agrees with you," the girl named Kodachi said. "My poor brother has been a part of it, how unfortunate for him. I was told by Sasuke that the chef was in this too, but she is nowhere to be found. And of course there's the two of us… and the main character, Ranma-sama."

Shampoo, who had been standing behind Akane, seemed to have lost her temper and seized a fistful of Akane's hair. "Why you violate deal?" she demanded harshly. "Why you keep moving closer to _Airen_? I kill if I want!"

"I don't know what you're talking about…" a clearly disoriented, pained Akane croaked weakly. Her eyes were gray and almost lifeless.

Kodachi scoffed. "You have only been out cold for two hours, and you do not remember anymore? Pathetic!" The gymnast walked close to Akane in quick strides and slapped her cheek hard, that her head brutally swung to her right.

"I might have use Xia Fang Gao Shiatsu on her and not remember… maybe bubbles not enough?" the soft, almost negligible voice of Shampoo mused.

Panicking, Akane struggled to recall what she's done to deserve the wrath of the two ladies surrounding her. The two culprits mentioned something about a deal concerning her, the two kidnappers, a chef, and a boy called Ranma.

_Ranma!_

Remember Cinderella? It was magic that helped her go to the prince's ball on that night. Her fairy godmother used the "Bibbidi bobbidi boo!" spell on Cinderella's dog, horse, and mice friends, and finally that measly little pumpkin that turned them all into one beautiful transport system. And of course, there was Cinderella herself, whose rags she wore turned into a very breathtaking glittering gown. All of that, courtesy of Fairy Godmother's wand and its magic.

When Ranma's name ran through Akane's mind, she might as well have had an invisible fairy godmother somewhere who shot a jet of magic from her wand. From her position where her head was turned at an angle to the right, she abruptly faced Kodachi again, and this time her heart was functioning operatively, some of the warmth came back to her skin, and her eyes were no longer gray – they turned a little brown, although not to their fullest chocolaty exquisiteness.

"_Go to hell_," Akane snapped, having found new strength merely from the name of the man that she knew meant so much to her. The memories of the past months flooded to her brain, and it made her head hurt like a computer on the edge of overload. Memories of chocolate chip cookies, pink tights, a grand piano, blue eyes that turned gray and extremely maniacal, tape recorders, hot pools, drowning, Ryouga, Ryouga's kisses, Ranma, Ranma's kisses… they all deluged into her.

Tonight was the night that she and Ranma revealed to the family that they had finally taken the whole engagement thing in. Everybody at home partied like crazy and ate and drank like there was no tomorrow.

But before that, they went through many painful emotional dilemmas and pains. Too many. However, they all disappeared in the end… because of Ranma.

"So that slap was all it took for you to remember?" Kodachi Kuno jeered. "Ahahahahahahah!"

That infamous laugh sent more shivers to Akane's skin and spine.

"Then we just slap you whole night, hentai-girl," the high-pitched voice of Shampoo, whom Akane recognized from her memory was an Amazon, rang behind her. The Chinese girl walked around Akane and stopped beside Kodachi.

"Take it easy," Kodachi counseled. "We have her life in our hands. Nobody will rescue her, and if they do notice that she is missing, they cannot possibly find her. This place is secluded and abandoned; those wretches are going to look all over Nerima – my manor, your restaurant – but not here." She grinned evilly, a horrible, ugly grin that scared Akane to her wits. She knew that Kodachi wasn't exactly pretty, but that grin made her look _repulsive_!

"So you didn't leave any note to my family that you KIDNAPPED me?" Akane, who startlingly found her voice, demanded. "No ransom, _anything_?" Her diaphragm pulsated devastatingly upon emphasis on the last word.

"Why there be ransom?" Shampoo hissed. "We bring you here to torture and kill you. You broke deal, hentai-girl, you face consequence. After that, Airen mine!"

"No, Shampoo," Kodachi interrupted coldly. "We are still going to decide on that."

The Amazon nodded stiffly, understanding what Kodachi meant.

_I don't believe it_, Akane thought incredulously. _I just don't believe it! These two lunatics joined forces just to… kill me? For crying out loud! They couldn't be more pig-headed than ever – what good would killing me do if Ranma would never love them anyway? They're so–_

Akane's thoughts were interrupted as Kodachi hit her stomach with the black club for the nth time that night. The fragile victim realized how more painful it became every second; she felt like Kodachi has been hitting her with that club even when she was out cold. In fact, she wondered why she wasn't having any internal bleeding…

Until she tasted the horrible tang of copper in her mouth.

"_Stop it_," she said – more like blurted out as forcefully as she could than pleaded – as her eyes never left the malevolent gaze of the gymnast. She tried again to struggle against the chains that were starting to hurt her arms like mad, but it was in vain.

Without a word, Shampoo's fist came in contact with her bruised stomach, making her cough several times. She cringed from the pain she felt on her belly… it was becoming more and more unbearable by the second…

"Stupid, stupid Akane Tendo," Kodachi muttered in a sarcastic voice. "Don't you understand? _You_ were the one who first approached me. _You_ were the one who made a deal that I keep you away from Ranma-sama, Ranma-sama from you, and that you yourself were to avoid him? I am just keeping my end of the bargain… _I'm keeping you away from him, and him from you_. It's YOU who cannot follow."

Akane gulped and breathed with difficulty. "L-look, it wasn't my fault… not Ranma's, either. I tried to keep away from the thought of going back to him, but things just happened one after another and… it was complicated…"

"Complicated or not, you not follow deal. We punish you! And Airen still not here to rescue you, maybe he not notice you gone yet." Shampoo smirked contentedly. "Soon you die and nobody even know it," she laughed shrilly, "NOT EVEN RANMA."

Akane's eyebrow twitched, even with her pained condition. "_You're wrong_," she whispered, her voice escalating in volume after ever word. "Ranma loves me. He'll come here and rescue me from you, just wait… _he'll save me_." Her final sentence was reduced to a precarious mutter.

"In this derelict construction site?" Kodachi snorted, looking around in the open. The sky was almost pitch black if not for the occasional wisps of blue. An unfinished, ten-story skeleton of a building stood a few yards away from them, a bulldozer beside it. "I doubt it. But don't worry, Tendo, we won't kill you tonight. Not tomorrow night, either. It's going to be a very long torture process, maybe a week… a month, who knows?"

The gymnast and the Amazon laughed together, like they just got off from a roller coaster ride and clearly enjoyed it.

"And then what?" Akane asked coolly. "Even if I die, Ranma will find out, for sure, that you've killed me. And when he does…" she chuckled softly, despite the pain. "_H-he'll kill you both_."

"How dare you say that Ranma-sama will turn against me like that!" Kodachi shouted angrily, lashing her gymnastics ribbon so that it wrapped itself around Akane's neck. "The reason why he cannot come and tell me his true feelings is _you_!"

Akane puffed sarcastically, causing her diaphragm and restrained neck to throb. "Even with me dead, Ranma would _never_ stick with a lunatic…" She turned to Shampoo. "Or a violent, deceptive monster like you!"

"I kill!" Shampoo screamed, punching Akane's stomach once more.

Akane cried in torture. It was very agonizing that she was on the edge of fainting, because she felt that the pain would eat her up and kill her. "_S-stop it_…" she said, less forceful than her first as she tasted more blood in her mouth. A gust of wind blustered again, blowing the edges of Akane's knee-long nightgown, and the cold felt like thousands of tiny knives stabbing her skin. She shivered uncomfortably, her head facing down.

"I think it's time that we gag her again."

Akane felt the ribbon around her neck loosening, and a bandana being brought up to her mouth again. "RANMA!" she had screamed with all her might before the bandana was tied tightly. Her voice echoed around the walls of the construction site.

"You hopeless," Shampoo mocked. "Nobody save you. Even if police come, amazons and ninjas guard place."

Akane stared helplessly, but she swore she wouldn't cry. She shouldn't. Not in front of these two.

"That's right," Kodachi agreed in a singsong voice. "Our skilled friends are stationed around the place. If the police – silly them – ever do their rescue mission act, they're dead. Of course it's impossible that Ranma's the one who'll come to the rescue… this place is miles away from Nerima…"

Shampoo's and Kodachi's deranged laughs reverberated through the site and into Akane's ears. She was half-conscious, but she managed to question herself if her family and Ranma really did notice that she wasn't there at home anymore… Were they looking for her at the moment, or were they still inundated in merrymaking? Was Ranma shouting her name in the streets of Nerima, or was he still with P-chan after he snatched the piglet from her in the bathroom?

_Where are they?_

The last ounce of strength left Akane Tendo as a roll of thunder roared ominously from afar.

* * *

Ranma and Ryouga had split up several minutes ago. Ranma was afraid that Ryouga would get lost and end up somewhere outside Japan, but the latter said that they'd have better chances of finding Akane if they didn't look at the same place.

"Damn!" Ranma cursed, frustrated, as his feet took what seemed like the millionth step that night. The kidnapper just left a few seconds before everybody in the dojo hurried to Akane's room, which meant that he shouldn't have gone far.

_But why can't we find him, that evil BASTARD?_

It seemed like he'd been running for two years instead of two hours. Red roofs, blue roofs, white roofs, yellow roofs, brown roofs, and a pink one. All colors, shapes, sizes of roofs. He was getting sick of hopping on them, looking for Akane and listening intently for her voice. He ruminated what the kidnapper might want from Akane, and why the guy didn't even leave a note or anything. It rules out the financial aspect, Kami knows how the whole family only barely has enough to sustain six to eight people, which is the exact number of inhabitants in the dojo on an average basis.

Ranma's fists turned white as he crumpled them, the thought of rape running through his mind for a second before he shook it away. Akane was a strong woman! She fought hundreds of guys in their school everyday. She even fought that maniac Jiro off single-handedly… there was no reason why she couldn't free herself from the kidnapper…

"AKANE!" he shouted, aggravated and panicking. He swore that when he finds the culprit – and he will, HELL CRUMBLES HE WILL – _he'll kill the piece of bull_. Beat him to a pulp.

Ranma knew that he was never too violent a person before, besides the occasional rise to the challengers of Anything Goes. And he wasn't pro-violence-to-the-max, too – if there was a way to settle things without using much force, set aside his daily pickle war with his father or a very persistent, annoying challenger, he prefers it.

But not this instance. The culprit kidnapped Akane and he was going to pay for it whether he's done something to her or stalled it to perform until Ranma arrived to rescue her. Because nothing meant more in the world for Ranma Saotome – not even his stupid father, his mother, The Spring of Drowned Man, his boundless strength, his martial arts skills – than Akane Tendo.

"Akane!" he yelled for the hundredth time. He stopped on a red roof and panted, his eyes not caring to mask their desperation and anger. Ranma knew that he was almost outside the city of Nerima already, but the word "hopeless" never even occurred to him.

"_Ranma!"_

A pulse of great energy shot through Ranma as he heard a voice too proverbial to be someone else's, too true to be just a figment of his frantic mind. "AKANE!" he called back to the voice, his heart thumping hard.

A silent, cold gust of wind answered him.

"_AKANE_!" he called again, jumping towards a blue roof to his right. There was no reply. "Damn!" he cussed, starting to jump on the roofs again to the direction where he felt Akane's scream came from.

After running a few moments, he came upon a tall wire fence that surrounded the perimeter of a presumably abandoned building that was never finished. He jumped over the wire fence and was faced with a cement wall ten meters high. His heart throbbed harder for every step he took around the wall as he looked for an entrance… he had a strong, terrible feeling that Akane was inside these very walls. How he knew, he had no idea, but these were the instances where he had to trust his premonitions… otherwise, he'd have no other rational option.

And then he heard it. A terrible duet of two deranged laughs – both too familiar for his presumption to be a mistake.

His adrenaline rushing, Ranma anchored his feet on the ground and gave a big push as he jumped as high as he could. Years of martial arts training doubtlessly helped him with this – his right hand just caught the edge of the wall when his velocity reached zero in the air. He pulled himself up and stood on the wall as he surveyed the surroundings, his body tense and on the alert.

Ranma's blood started pumping through his veins dangerously as a single bolt of lightning flashed and the image in front of him was made clear for a second. It was followed by a hostile rumble of thunder.

What he saw wasn't a beautiful sight – no, it wasn't at all. Bathed in the dim light of a wavering white fluorescent light on a post were three images that Ranma instantly recognized: There was that persistent itch of a fool, Kodachi, wearing her usual leotard and a green and white jacket. She was holding her gymnastics weapons. And there was Shampoo who wore a red Chinese dress. Both of them were looking maliciously at the girl tied to the metal chair.

The girl was Akane. She was barely covered with the white dress that poorly clothed her. Her body sat limp even though it was chained tightly.

His face twitched. His head jerked minutely but forcefully. WHO DID THOSE SICK, DAMNED WOMEN THINK THEY WERE?

"_AKANE_!" Ranma shouted. He rushed towards the three. Kodachi and Shampoo were startled to see Ranma. They did not expect him to find them there! And he wasn't _supposed_ to, or else they would have lost their chances on him!

Shampoo and Kodachi ran to stop Ranma from reaching Akane. Several yards from the metal chair, the three confronted each other.

"Ranma-sama, what brings you here?" Kodachi asked as sweetly as she could, but it ended up being forced and apprehensive. She looked into his eyes and tried to no avail not to wince from the flicker of fury in Ranma's eyes.

"Wo da airen," Shampoo mewed, "you not suppose to be here!"

"Step aside," Ranma's harsh, cold voice commanded.

"Ranma-sama," Kodachi implored as she stepped forward towards her love, "you have to underst–"

She wasn't given the chance to finish – Ranma pushed her aside brutally.

"Ran–"

"_What did you do to Akane?"_ he interrupted Shampoo in a hazardous whisper. "_Why did you take her away?"_

Shampoo sighed. "We leave Airen no choice."

"No, idiot, no!" Kodachi argued. But it was too late – Ranma's eyes darted to the skeleton of the unfinished building standing not too far from where they stood. Pairs of white, glowing dots filled the darkness in the building's crevices. They moved swiftly in the dark until they surrounded Ranma in one big circle.

"What are you doing?" demanded Kodachi.

"For Ranma own good," answered Shampoo, her eyes fixed upon her decision. "Airen thank me later for this. Akane we kill, without her in life of Ranma, everything be perfect for him, no more shouting and fighting!" She looked at Ranma, whose eyes were still unwavering and irate. "Do not kill him," she told the people surrounding them, "just keep Airen away from hentai-girl."

On cue, about twenty figures showed themselves to the three. Half of them were clad completely in black, save for their eyes, and carried swords, the other half were clearly Chinese and held different kinds of weapons in their hands. Without a word, eight of them lunged at Ranma as he tried to make his way towards the unconscious Akane.

He dodged a triple attack from three amazons as they simultaneously struck their jakujou weapons at him. Ranma managed to land some punches on the chests of two ninjas who tried to cut his head off, despite Shampoo's orders. His swift leg sprang up in the air, breaking a few of the ninjas' bones, and his tense limbs made thunderously strong, lightning-quick blows that knocked three amazons out.

_These idiots don't know who they're fighting_, he thought furiously. _Most of all, they don't know who I'm fighting for!_

"Ranma!" a male voice shouted from afar. "Ranma!" it called again, its volume increasing.

Ryouga had miraculously found his way to the place, and heaven only knew how. It didn't take him more than a second to realize what was happening the moment he saw Akane out cold and Ranma fighting seemingly skilled figures. He joined the fight, his heart quickening with every _Bakusai Tenketsu_ attack that he landed perfectly or missed after the enemies dodged.

Having lost half of their force, the ninjas and amazons swarmed like killer bees towards Ranma and Ryouga, who had their backs to each other, surrounded by several bodies they knocked out in a minute. In a jiffy, about ten sharp, pointed weapons were aimed at the two ebony-haired men. The pigtailed martial artist and the Lost Boy drew quick intakes of air, the blood surging through their veins and their hearts pumping more oxygenized blood by the second as the thought of what the villains had done to Akane plagued them. It seemed like the odds were against them as the razor-sharp pieces of steel glistened threateningly.

Until, as fleetingly as the time it took the wind to travel a fraction of a centimeter, the two disappeared soundlessly in a blur. This caught the black-clad ninjas and amazons by surprise, and before they knew it, their spines have been severely, if not permanently, damaged and broken into bits with various sizes. One by one, they fell.

"Having fun?" Ryouga bellowed amidst the now defending ninjas. He broke the face of one who strongly resembled the Kunos' servant, Sasuke.

"Not quite!" Ranma grunted, the anger still swelling from his insides as he grabbed an amazon by her red hair and hurled her as far as he could. He unmasked a ninja who was about to launch a number of small, round blades at him. Ranma gripped the struggling ninja's hands behind him and kicked his back. With a roundhouse kick, he sent a particularly large ninja flying into the air. Ryouga finished him up by landing a powerful punch to the oversized warrior that sent him soaring outside the country.

Both of them stopped, beads of sweat dripping down the side of their cheeks, waiting for the next attack. Their heavy breathing joined those of the pained moans of the very few ninjas and amazons who were still hanging on to consciousness, unlike the rest who were already sent to the land of dreams for a predictable long time.

Ranma, who was almost numb in a few seconds, expected Kodachi or Shampoo to seduce and tame him to the point of puking, or at least grovel and beg for forgiveness.

It never came.

"Akane!" Ryouga's eyes had found Akane's disordered figure and he quickly rushed to her side to untie her. She was not giving any pained sounds, in fact it seemed like… she wasn't breathing anymore… "AKANE!" the fanged boy bellowed, desperately fumbling with the chains around Akane. In his frustration, the chains in his grasp were crushed as if they were soda crackers.

A light patter on the pavement, before he could even feel the wetness, told Ryouga that it had begun to rain.

"BWEE!" P-chan's wail echoed within the abandoned site for the fear that Akane's body, which was slowly falling from the chair, would hit the ground. The black piglet on the floor abruptly jumped on Akane's lap and braced her tummy, praying that with some sort of miracle or a twist of fate, the rain that fell on him evaporated from the Spring of Drowned Man and he would turn human and would be able to stop Akane from hitting the cement floor.

It never came, either.

A pair of feminine hands gently held Akane's shoulders and held her from collapsing onto the ground. P-chan blinked and saw from his perspective on the scantily-clad girl's lap a short, pigtailed redhead. She lifted Akane's chin and brushed the stray strands of hair from her face dripping from the rain. "Akane…" the redhead called faintly. She shook Akane slightly, but there was no response from the rescued. "_Akane_," she said more firmly, desperation becoming evident in her voice. "Akane, wake up!" She embraced the limp girl and whispered her name to her ear with pleas of waking up.

Ranma-chan's eyes grew wide open as she felt the first sign of like that Akane showed beneath her: a shiver. "_R-Ra… ma_…" the cold Akane whispered inaudibly. Ranma immediately looked at Akane's lips; they were closing and opening almost undetectably, but closing and opening, nonetheless, as Akane's red blood cells struggled for oxygen. The short girl kissed the unconscious one's forehead.

Without a second thought, Ranma took off her red polo shirt, leaving her torso vulnerable to the biting cold even though it was still in a white sleeveless undershirt. The redhead put the red polo on Akane's bare shoulders. She knew that it would make little difference, given the fact that it was already wet and just as cold as the air, but something told her (and she believed strongly) that Akane would be feeling less… less not-okay once she feels it around her. With P-chan still on Akane's lap, Ranma brought her hands under Akane and carried her just like the way the groom carries his bride after the wedding.

P-chan was too stunned from everything that happened. He found himself lying on Akane's stomach as both he and Akane were carried by Ranma under the rain.

Ranma-chan inhaled deeply, the smell of dampness, wood, concrete, (and phenomenally) oranges and strawberries filling her nostrils. She herself was feeling the chill seep into her skin, but the warmth that was building up inside of her, psychological or not psychological, fought the bitter cold off.

It was going to be a long walk home.

* * *

"…and my stupid father did it anyway, so I think he got what he deserved, stealing my pickles without me looking. That ain't unfair, right? He was damn lucky Kasumi didn't extend his bamboo shoot diet for a month or else he'd be broke right now, buying street food and stuff in secret. He doesn't even have a job for crying out loud! Baka oyaji…"

The voice Akane was hearing came from the right. Her left index finger twitched.

"…Sayuri and Yuka promised to visit yesterday, but they didn't make it because of some school play practice, I guess. It's five now, so maybe they're on their way from school… told them not to tell anybody, so you don't have to worry about any irritating noise from your admirers. _Tatchie_ even wrote a poem for you, that fool… dya want me to read it? Took him every milligram of courage he got to hand this to me, and it didn't came without his usual 'You are not befit to be with Akane Tendo, you vile sorcerer' speech. Here goes…"

Akane's toe moved under the covers. She smelled the familiar scent of isopropyl alcohol, ointment, white hospital sheets.

"_Thou art_… OH, WHAT THE HECK. I can't even read the next words, much more know what they mean." There was a sound of a piece of paper being folded. "You decide what to do with this piece of trash when you wake up," he snorted. "Anyway, since it's your third day here at Dr. Tofu's, he allowed me to sleep over because he believed you're already fine. If it's fine witcha, maybe I'll just join our beds together and stuff – y-you know, to keep you warm and all – but I don't really know what you'll do when the first thing you see when you wake up is my face, so maybe sitting here will do… wood always does wonders to the butt, I've heard. And don't worry, I'm totally fine with it. Dr. Tofu said that your insides are recovering fast, that you'll wake up in a few days, and that you will be better than ever after a week."

The left eyelid of Akane fluttered open then close unnoticeably. The voice from her right heaved a sigh. Akane felt a grip on her hand, and it held her tighter, which meant that the hand was holding her since before she was conscious of her surroundings, only she didn't feel it then.

"Oh, and ya know what? Our dear old Ryouga's got himself a girlfriend! A _girlfriend_, Akane! He met her in the public baths… saved her from drowning, actually… and you know what happened next. Ryouga told me the female customers just zoomed up the charts when he started life guarding there. Name's Akari, met her yesterday and she's nice. They're both nice. Ain't they just a nice, hot cup of niceness?" The martial artist laughed a bit. "A couple of Ryouga's and Akari's studded in every corner of the globe, and the world's a better place."

He exhaled and cleared his throat as his laughter died.

"I'm failing math, Akane. I'm really struggling, ya know? Because I know that's what you want me to do. But I can't concentrate… besides English and History and stuff, I think I'm flunking gym class. WHO FAILS GYM CLASS? I know, I know… but every time I start jumping and doing sports and all, I get really distracted when I think of you in this room…" He groaned edgily. "I know that ain't a valid reason or anything. Maybe you'll even buck me on the head when you know about this, but I can't even balance on a trapeze anymore. LAME, but the circus monkeys are better than me now. I-I just…"

He leaned close and desperately spoke to her ear. "Dammit, I just wish you were awake because I want to tell you I love you and hear your voice and see your beautiful eyes and see your lips move and feel your hands react…"

His voice was warm and deep and wonderful, her auditory nerves tingled with delight. As her brain sent pulses of electricity to her numb nerves like jolts of electricity, Akane's right thumb showed the _slightest_ hint of movement. It would have gone unnoticed by anybody.

But not by Ranma, who had his full attention directed to every inch of what he could see and feel of Akane.

"_Akane_?" the pigtailed boy asked anxiously, caressing the patient's hand with his thumb and focusing on her face. "A-are you awake?" Maybe it was only just one of the 'twitches' Akane had been showing for the past few days, the ones that had Ranma earnestly hoping one second and slumping back in disappointment and worry the next. Maybe it was a sign that her recovery was speeding up, and that she would wake up sooner than the time Dr. Tofu said she would.

Or maybe she had really just woken up from her state of maximum, unrelenting lethargy.

The raven-haired girl batted her eyelashes gently as the sight of a white ceiling welcomed her. Her eyelids felt heavy, but her strength overcame their weight as they slowly opened and the light poured into her eyes and swept away the cobwebs of her thoughts. Memories of the previous night (or was it? She felt like she was losing track of time) flooded into her. That night, she felt bitter and cold and pained, but now everything was surprisingly warm. She looked to her left. A glass window was open, its white curtains fluttering in the breeze, its sill adorned with red and white roses in a blue vase.

She looked to her right. She couldn't.

She couldn't because Ranma's head was buried in the spot on the pillow just next to her head. His unmoving lips were in contact with her neck. And she realized that the reason why she felt warm was because Ranma's arms enveloped her, far more differently than how those horrible chains had bound her.

Akane smiled. "_Oh, my princely knight_," she uttered coarsely, not quite knowing how those words jumped off her tongue. She felt like Ariel in Disney's The Little Mermaid – it seemed like she lost her voice, although not completely.

_Kami, her voice sounds like a symphony composed by those naked, winged babies up there…_

The warmth from the right side of her neck subsided as chocolate met the blue sky. "Hey there," Ranma greeted casually – albeit the look in his eyes was anything but casual – as he flashed the best Ranma grin he could present, one that could sweep any girl off her feet. "I dunno about the whole knight thing, but Pop once said my great great great grandfather was royalty… but that's what he told the guards at the royal palace so we could eat in the buffet when I was ten …"

The patient tried to clear her throat, and with it came a very familiar, tugging pain in her stomach. Her face scrunched up as her hand traveled to her belly.

"C-careful there," Ranma's concerned voice rang. A jiffy later, his calloused hand was holding the smooth one on top of Akane's stomach. "Dr. Tofu said the pain wouldn't be as bad, but still… _bad_. The internal bleeding's stopped, but you've gotta stop doing sit-ups for now. That means no sparring, katas, anything that has to do with you shouting or straining your muscles…"

Akane frowned. She hated not being able to do martial arts.

"…and don't you frown at me, young lady–" Ranma stopped. "Man, I sound like Kasumi, don't I?"

The now amused Akane nodded. Her hand, the one that wasn't being held by Ranma's, trekked the air and rested on the cheek on Ranma's face that was mere inches from hers. Her lips began to move as they mouthed to Ranma something that pleasantly looked like _I love you_.

Ranma raised his eyebrow, a playful smile dancing on his lips. When he let Shampoo undergo the infamous Ranma Saotome torture yesterday to extract from her the truth and everything else, the amazon had said that Akane didn't remember anything – even Ranma – at first. It wasn't until a few minutes later (when her brain was probably racked up by the slaps they gave her) that she remembered who she was. Satisfied, Ranma had left Shampoo without hurting her further.

A few seconds later, Cat Restaurant was reduced to a pile of sawdust and splinters as Ryouga, satisfyingly wiping his fist with his yellow bandana, caught up with the pigtailed martial artist. The entertaining conversation they had as they walked towards a certain direction was that of leotards and black roses.

_Well_, Ranma thought, entranced by the twinkle in Akane's eyes, _she certainly doesn't have memory gap now_. "I love you, too," he replied affectionately.

And he didn't cringe at all, but rather gave her a mischievous frown when her hand suddenly pinched his cheek. "_Baka_," Akane croaked faintly, "_I said 'island view'…"_

Honestly, was Akane really REALLY hurt or was it just some minor throbbing? Because she still had time to nurse that joke in her supposedly in-a-state-of-confusion mind. Because, you know, what most badly hurt patients do when they wake up is anything but joke around, especially when they've just undergone a life or death situation.

"Well… is 'island view too' a good enough answer?" Ranma asked teasingly. "You ain't stopping me with that, ya know."

"Good enough," the highly pleased Akane whispered, giving the martial artist a lingering kiss on the previously pinched cheek.

There was a soft knock on the door as it briefly creaked open. "Hey, Ranma, Nabiki's here. And Ukyou's got okonomiyaki for everyone, so we all better–" The fanged boy stopped in mid-sentence when his eyes drank up what was happening in front of him. And no, thoughts of depression and challenging Ranma to yet another fight never occurred to him. "Akane-san! You're awake!"

Ranma sat back on his chair as he gladly made room for the highly enthused Ryouga to greet Akane with a friendly hug. "Kami-sama, you're awake!" he repeated happily. He stood up, faced Ranma, and motioned his hand to Akane. "She's _awake_, Ranma!" he said again, blissful disbelief and shock evident on his face.

"Hey, Ryouga-kun," Akane greeted quietly, he eyes shining in glee. Ryouga stepped aside to reveal an equally happy Nabiki with a video camera on one hand. The patient smiled at the camera. "_I'm awake_," she declared, her eyes disappearing behind a wide smile.

"Good thing I had Ryouga on a leash, else he would have ended up in Hokkaido… you look like a million bucks, sis, greetings from the planet Earth," Nabiki laughed. The red light on the camera continued to blink as Ukyou slowly made her way into the scene, carrying a temptingly aromatic box of okonomiyaki.

"So how are you?" she asked Akane awkwardly.

Even though Ukyou was one of the three whom Akane had made the deal with, Akane realized that Ukyou didn't do anything to hurt her. Eyeing the middle Tendo, she also recalled the documentary film Nabiki'd done, _The Truth Shall Set You Free_. Ukyou was really nice to have taken part on the good side. Akane was very, very grateful for that.

She offered Ukyou an affable smile. "I'm good," she replied faintly, "but I'll be much better if you give me some of the delicious food you've brought… I haven't eaten for three days, you know."

Ukyou's uneasiness faded as she returned the patient's smile. "Why not?"

Ranma heaved a silent sigh of relief. Shampoo and Cologne are packing up at the moment for their trip back home to China, Kodachi was in a _little_ trauma because of a recent "accident" with Mr. Turtle, Kuno was still as clueless as ever, everyone in the room was in best terms with one another, and Akane was alive, and although not kicking, she was very much okay. It was heaven.

Most of all, she loves him and he loves her, and that was his definition of heaven.

_Yep,_ he agreed to himself, _definitely heaven._

"Okay, okay, enough of the mushy-wushy stuff!" Ranma declared. "It's five and we still haven't had our afternoon snack yet! C'mon, Ucchan, everybody's tummies are grumbling… and let's finish it all up before Pop arrives…"

Nabiki snorted. "Course, the old man always finds a way to evade the bamboo shoot diet… caught him picking the heavy duty lock we put in the fridge last night, you know."

"You mean the _titanium_ lock you were telling me about?" Ukyou asked Ryouga in disbelief as she opened the huge delivery box and started serving okonomiyaki.

The Lost Boy nodded gravely, accepting a paper plate. "Saw it with my two eyes when Ranma locked it himself."

"Okay, okay, so we all know that my dad's a conniving, undisciplined guy, and the sky's blue," Ranma said, shrugging and accepting two paper plates. "But ya gotta give him at least some credit; if he weren't born, then I wouldn't be here, would I? The world just couldn't do without me…" He gave them a charismatic grin, and then Ryouga slapped his head with a paper plate.

"Oi, don't flatter yourself much. The main reason why the world's round and squashed on the poles is too much flattery."

Everybody laughed. And so did Akane, even though her laughter was too soft to hear. But Ranma saw Akane, and she was happy, and seeing her smile made the world a better place for him.

"C'mon, say _ah_," Ranma said, holding a fork with a piece of okonomiyaki on the other end. At first Akane shook her head, but eventually gave in when Ranma presented her his best puppy dog look. She opened her mouth and ate what Ranma fed her, because he didn't let her hold any of the food, and that's what she did for the next twenty minutes – opening and closing her mouth, chewing the best okonomiyaki in Nerima, stealing glances at Ranma who seemed calmer and happier than ever, pretending he didn't see Ranma staring at her, raising her eyebrow playfully whenever she caught his eyes… just for teasing purposes.

After the gracious meal, Ukyou left the clinic to attend to her regular customers in her eatery. Nabiki said she was doing business again, and mumbled something about Tatewaki Kuno, photoshop, and a group picture of nakedness…

Dr. Tofu entered the room. "How's my patient doing?"

"I'm fine now, Tofu-sensei," Akane croaked, smiling weakly.

The doctor looked meaningfully at Ranma and Ryouga. "I hope you didn't give her something hard to digest." He strode over to the bed and pulled up Akane's patient uniform so that her stomach was exposed. It was a weird shade of purple, with some bluish black spots of various sizes. Akane gasped upon seeing herself, but Dr. Tofu calmed her. "Don't worry, Akane-chan, these are just external. Your intestines are okay, although your stomach should refrain from too much… _exercise_."

Akane nodded.

"We ate okonomiyaki, Tofu-sensei," Ryouga said. "Is that okay?"

The bespectacled doctor pondered on this. "It isn't exactly a _hard_ food, so it's okay… but maybe we should give her medicine just to be sure. A weak antacid would be fine just to aid the digestion, I'll go get–" He stopped, slapping his forehead. "I just remembered, I'm out of that already!" He turned to Ranma. "Could I send you on an errand and buy medicine from the pharmacy a few blocks away?"

"Uh, sure," the pigtailed martial artist complied. He sat up from his chair and planted a kiss on Akane's forehead. "Be back in a few, take care of yourself. And you," he added, facing Ryouga, "take care of her, too."

"Yes sir," Ryouga said, giving Ranma a friendly salute as the latter followed the resident doctor out of the room. The former took a seat on the chair that was once occupied by Ranma.

A minute passed as the harmony of birds twittering, the wind whistling, and the curtains fluttering played in the background.

"You look… happy, Ryouga-kun," Akane remarked, her eyes locking with Ryouga's. The fanged boy leaned closer and smiled at her.

"Well, I am. First of all, you're awake after three days of… well, not being awake. Second, Ranma and I have finally settled everything after several chitchats…"

Of course, having spent a fair amount of time with Ryouga – and not just as any ordinary friend – Akane felt that she knew more about Ryouga than what everybody, even the boy himself, told her. The look in his eyes said everything. But before the revelation that she sort of knew the truth, the apology part came first. It always does. It's like that rule was in a universal handbook of truth.

"I'm sorry, Ryouga-kun," she said weakly, sincerity evident in her eyes. "I-I don't know how to put it any other way, but I really am sorry."

Although she didn't specify the reasons, Akane felt like there was no need to. She felt like in a soap opera, and everything was just dramatic and emotional and stuff.

"No need to apologize, Akane-san, it just happened. You shouldn't say sorry. And just so you know, I'm not sorry for anything either – I'm thankful, if not glad, that all of those… things… happened to us. I guess we learned a lot from that experience, and if we learned a lot, then that must be a good sign."

Akane smiled, and even though Ryouga already had a new girlfriend, that didn't keep him from getting weak in the knees. Good thing he was sitting down. "I loved you Ryouga," Akane whispered truthfully. "You always treated me very, very well, and… and I am so lucky to have known somebody like you. Thank you for everything, for bearing and staying with me, liking me for who I am."

He removed his bandana. "I've stayed with you more than you could ever think of," he chuckled knowingly. "And I loved you too. I… I still _like_ you now, very much. Because you're Akane Tendo, and everybody likes you. I thank you for teaching me a lot of stuff and… and making me stronger, and for… for just about anything."

Akane giggled, which left Ryouga confused. "Is it me, or are you more… collected and mature now? You seem so different, it's a wonder you're not that Copycat Ken guy disguised as Ryouga just so he could see me in a defenseless state."

"W-well, you've done a lot to me, Akane-san, and it was all for the better."

The patient gave him a genuine smile. "Come over here and give me a hug," she beseeched softly. Within moments she was surrounded by Ryouga's warmth. "Friends?" she offered, her face buried in the crook of his neck.

"Friends." Ryouga heaved a reassured, blissful sigh. "You know, all Ranma and I ever did for the last three days was talk. About you, about stuff."

Akane's voice vibrated in his ear. "_So is everything okay?_"

"Like a nice, sunny day. Or a front row seat to _The Night of Corporal Symphony_ at the part where they played Moonlight Sonata and this amazing girl danced onstage…"

She giggled a bit at this remark as they ended the hug and he sat back down on the chair. "Now what did you say about too much flattery again?"

"I said something about that? I don't really recall…"

They both laughed.

"So I heard you have a new girlfriend now."

"Uh, y-yeah," Ryouga stuttered. "Her name is–"

"…Akari," Akane bridged. Just when Ryouga sensed that there would be a long, tense talk a short while after this, his heart calmed down when he saw Akane's teeth, exposed in a heartfelt smile. "Ranma told me when I was… in the middle of being asleep and being awake. And I'm… I'm happy for you."

"Kami-sama," Ryouga exhaled in relief, holding Akane's hand, "you don't know how much I'm relieved right now!"

"What, you think we're both in some soap opera, maybe a work of fiction made up of an ocean of drama and mush? I realized, somewhere in my dreams, that even though being sensitive is nice, too much of being emotional is detrimental."

"Tsk. Now that's something we all learned from experience, right, Akane-san?"

Akane nodded, finding that too much talking caused a little bit of pain to her abs where she got her voice from.

"Okay, we have to stop the chitchat now, I think," Ryouga realized, getting up and gathering all the used paper plates. "If Ranma sees that you're straining yourself, he'll kill me." He threw them to the nearest trash can. "Now, I know that you've slept three days straight, but a little more sleep would do you good right now, Akane-san. After that, you can run and shout and make merry until your energy runs out again, and you sleep like a rock between nine to ten." He chuckled. "Hey, that rhymed!"

"Why, you know my sleeping habits very well, Ryouga…"

"Well, you k-know me!" Ryouga interrupted quickly in a startlingly cheerful tone. "I know a lot about some people than everybody thinks so! Ahehehe… hehe…" He scratched his head as a blush threatened to take over his face.

There was knock on the door, and Dr. Tofu came in carrying a small box of medicine. Ranma followed a jiffy later, smiling affectionately at Akane, and then gratefully at the fanged boy.

* * *

It was ten in the evening. With the help of Kasumi, Akane had taken her first bath in three days. She smelled like milk, courtesy of the "healing" milk soap that Dr. Tofu had offered her (and that before Kasumi had arrived at the clinic, of course, or else the recovering patient would have taken a bath with Clorox, because the doctor would have mistaken it for liquid soap). Now, she sat on her hospital bed, watching Kasumi as the latter was putting the last of the former's things into a bag.

"I'll just deliver this downstairs, okay, Akane-chan? Then I'll come back to help you."

"No, it's okay, onee-chan… you can just wait downstairs with father and uncle and the rest of the crew," she said, less softer than this afternoon, for she had somehow regained her voice.

"They sure are very excited to see you," Kasumi noted merrily. "A grand entrance suits you well."

Akane laughed softly. "Right."

As Kasumi left the dimly weakly-lit room bathed in moonlight and rays from a weak lamp, Akane sighed, lay back down horizontally on the bed, and gazed at the ceiling.

_If I were the Akane I was before all of this happened, then what I'd be feeling now are thoughts of hopelessness, misery, annoyance, weariness, and the one and only pain in my guts. I'd probably think, "This life is not worth living. At all. Really." And then when I get back home, I'll do the pile of homework that Ranma'd brought home from me. After that, I'll slump back and try to sleep – and the adverb "peacefully" just wouldn't fit there because of all the troubles my life would have been fraught with._

_No, I am definitely not saying that I don't have any problems _now_. First of all, there's the persistent fact that my family's struggling in financial terms… but Nabiki's got that covered. Ah, my sister loves me so much, she'll send me to college even if she finds out that I've been sneaking money out of her room… not that it's true, but _if_ – note: _if_ (and that's one very unfeasible _if_), not _when_ – ever that happens, she'd still love me the same._

_Problems, problems… yes, there's the Furinkan Hentai Horde, and my performance that night, both in the auditorium and the bar, just didn't help to decrease the club attendance. I guess I don't know my own… what's the term? Strength? Nah. Beauty? Maybe. Haha._

_And then there's Shampoo and Kodachi._

_I'd rather not recall._

_Doing that gives me the shivers._

_But I wonder what happened to them… why didn't they storm this room and murder me when I was asleep? I'll have to ask Ranma what happened to them._

_Oh, and Ranma! Thank heavens for Ranma! He told me what happened three nights ago, how those two demon women beat me up, how they got a horde of amazons and ninjas to guard the site, how he and Ryouga beat all of them up and rescued me… I wish Nabiki were there to film the whole thing. It would have made a great action movie, probably a demo tape for both Ranma and Ryouga if ever they want to audition in some action show or flick. The screening people would hire them in a split second, I swear._

_I'm glad that Ryouga's doing well without me. Not that I'm not there for him – I always will, because he's helped me find myself in a sea of confusion (something like that, I think), and even though I don't love-LOVE him anymore, I still can't help loving him as a friend because he's just so nice. I hope that Akari takes care of him… the way I see it, they're a perfect match for each other. Ryouga's too… well, nice for me. Especially with my temper and stubbornness and indecisiveness and…_

_Okay, I get it now. Stop._

_Ranma._

_I'm going to have to spend the rest of the night on this bed, thinking about him, summarizing what he's done to me for the past months._

_Frankly, he could have just given up. He could have just watched paint dry instead of getting on this bumpy ride with me and the others. He could have just, you know, ignored me the moment I was introduced as his brand new fiancé. Or, up until the day I started dancing lessons, he could have just continued calling me names and shooing away the thought of apologizing._

_But he didn't. He apologized, went through a couple of obstacle courses, stepped on emotional nails, ate all of my badly made cookies, rescued me from drowning, rescued me when I was almost raped (damn that Jiro, crushing his eggs doesn't give everything justice), rescued me when I was kidnapped (without a ransom note; I am going to have to kill those two when I get better, I swear)…_

_Well, of course I apologized, too._

_And he said he loves me._

_And I said I love him._

_And we kissed._

_Lots of times._

_And it feels…_

_Nice._

_Wonderful._

_Everything good._

_I love him so much._

"That silly smile on your face shows everything, all right," a voice in front of her rang. "You're daydreaming about me! I ain't got an inkling what daydreaming at night is called, but you're thinking about me and how you love me." He laughed. "I always get it right, don't I?"

"Ranma," Akane said, rolling her eyes and smiling as she took Ranma's hands that pulled her up back to her sitting position.

Not letting go of her hands, he kneeled in front of her. "Hey you."

"Hey back atcha."

"Ready to go home?"

"Uh-huh. I miss my room. I miss P-chan."

Ranma snorted all of a sudden, and then chastised himself. "Y-yeah, he's at home, safe and sound. He… misses you too…" He broke off, stifling a fit of laughter with a sniff.

Akane raised her eyebrows, but her lips formed an amused smile.

"Hey," the pigtailed boy said again, his voice solemn this time. "I'm sorry I wasn't fast enough."

She tilted her head in question.

"You'd think sixteen years of martial arts would make me… really REALLY good, a virtuoso at it, if not invincible. But no, I was too slow that night. I let them kidnap you because I was too slow. And it took me hours to find you… if I'd caught them at the dojo, then this wouldn't happen to you. I'm… I'm sorry."

His voice sounded sorry. His face certainly looked sorry. And it seemed like he was angry… at himself. That, and he pitied himself too, and Akane.

_No, Ranma_, Akane thought, _just when everything's nice and better, you'll go all drama on me?_

"Come on, Ranma," she said, her voice positive. "You and Ryouga saved me, and that's what's important. It just happened too fast, and you weren't prepared–"

"Well that's the purpose of martial arts, ain't it?" Ranma interrupted, his voice rising. "To defend yourself and others, especially at times when you're unprepared and trouble comes marching in…" His voice faded out, seeing Akane's surprised face. "I-I'm sorry."

"It's okay," she assured, removing his hands from hers and patting the spot on the bed beside her. Ranma took a seat. "What's important is," she continued, "that you kept the worst from happening to me. And I am thankful for that, I really am. I can't ask for anything more from you."

"It's just that…" Ranma began, struggling for words. "It's just that I couldn't imagine what I'd become without you! I was so scared that night, Akane, I've never been more scared all my life. If something worse happened to you, then I'd have lost control and started… I dunno, a killin' spree or something like that. I didn't want to lose you, I didn't, I don't, and I never will. I just–"

He broke off.

Akane broke him off. With a kiss. One that remained on his lips for several long, silent seconds.

"I love you, Ranma," she said softly. "I love you so much. And I wouldn't want you to kill anyone no matter how rational the reason is. And that is so because killing would make you the worst type of person on this planet. I love you, and I don't want you to turn into that kind of guy just because of me. Do you promise not – never – to foster that thought in your mind? Ever?"

The martial artist was stunned. Akane does… she _does_ love him so much.

"I promise. And I love you too."

_Good thing Mr. Turtle knows his master in the vaguest bit…_

Akane smiled, and it was too contagious to not infect Ranma.

The next thing he knew, Akane's wonderful chocolate eyes were growing nearer and nearer… and nearer… and they disappeared behind her eyelids… and her lips touched his for the second time that night. It was gentle… but passionate… and warm… and wonderful.

His hands slid around her back as they stood up; her arms embraced his neck… she opened her lips to deepen the kiss… a little moan escaped her throat. Ranma held her tightly as their lips started moving more vigorously.

The room was dim, the evening air was warm, and time slowed down.

Ranma was about to lay Akane down on the bed…

Until there was a smart knock on the door, there was a weird sound like the combination of screeching brakes and a record being stopped, and in came Nabiki. Both of them pulled away, blushing at the middle Tendo.

"Yeah, well, you can do that at home," Nabiki said flatly. "But now you should go downstairs, because everyone's waiting. Come on, you two."

"R-right," Ranma stuttered.

"Uh… yeah, we're coming," Akane breathed. "Let's go, Ranma."

Nabiki waited for the two to get out of the empty room as she closed the room behind her. The three of them slowly made their way downstairs, to be met by the whole cheering family who had a banner that said, "GET WELL, AKANE, AND HAPPY WEDDING TO YOU AND RANMA!"

* * *

**Author's Notes:** Well, you can try it yourself! Mouth "island view" in front of a mirror and you'd look like you were saying "I love you". I did that to my classmate once, and so much blushing went on. Hehe.

Phew, this one's about twice or thrice as long as the regular chapters (and I am spent)! Now isn't that a treat? ;) It's one of my Christmas gifts to you, I guess… given the fact that I am actually broke right now, since I've bought gifts for about twenty people already…

Oh yeah, watch out for the last chapter; I ain't through with this baby yet! Yes, people, the chapter count stops at lucky 13. (",) Merry Christmas and peace to all… God bless you everyone!


	13. A Happy Life

**Author's Notes:** Last chapter, people. It's been a long and winding journey… but we're finally here tonight… (mumbles in petulant continuance about not being as good as Guy Sebastian in singing) Gah, sane mode now!

I thank you all for bearing with me and this story (and its painfully slow updating pace) and its ever-changing summary. This one's my first Ranma multi-chapter fic, and almost two years after I made it, I read it again. My nose scrunched up. God, my second year high school self surely didn't know how to write! But I guess time just passed me by, and with the help of my growing age and maturity (hah.) and your wonderful reviews, it sort of… got on track.

Thus, this final chapter is dedicated to all the readers and reviewers of Changed Overnight.

**Disclaimer:** It's been almost 2 years, darlings, but still I know that Ranma 1/2 will never EVER be mine. But this plot _is mine_, though, and to the person who plagiarized CO… _may you get incurable writer's block!_

* * *

**Changed Overnight**

**Chapter (oh, lucky) Thirteen: A Happy Life**

"Sorry, autograph signing won't start for about half an hour," a lanky man holding a clipboard explained to the huge crowd, mainly made up of men, outside the building.

The men – of all ages, from twelve to… who knows – all groaned. The females bickered with the tall guy who blocked the entrance. "We've been waiting for two hours!"

"I know that, but you can't possibly miss her when she comes, can you?"

"You better make sure, because this," an impatient guy said, holding up a CD cover entitled _Oranges and Strawberries_, "is her first and last album. And I," he stopped dramatically, his chest puffing up, "am her biggest fan. If I don't get this signed, I'll sue you!"

The tall crowd control man opened his mouth to say something in reply but was interrupted by sudden rapturous shouting and screaming. He whirled around and saw the once little teenager he's been working with for one and a half years, all smiles, looking tall and beautiful in white pants, a white sleeveless buttoned-up blouse and a white long-sleeved jacket, casually elegant and glowing as always. While she hurried to the door, her long bluish black hair gracefully swished behind her.

"Sorry for the delay, Makoto!" she said to the head of crowd control as she uncapped her felt-tip pen. When she reached the exit of the building, the crowd of ecstatic fans began presenting posters and CDs and photos for her to sign.

"It's not like you to be late!" the thirty-year old Makoto uttered loudly in an effort to be heard amidst the noisily excited fans. "They were butchering me here!"

The center of attention returned a newly-signed photograph of herself to a high school student in uniform, and then accepted a CD cover from a curly-haired woman. "I just called home and the conversation prolonged a little," she explained, signing the CD cover and handing it back to the owner.

After almost an hour of watching the girl sign different things (a few guys even went far as to have requested her to sign their lower abdomen), Makoto let out a lungful of air and ordered the crowd control staff to carry the travel bags sitting inside the building as a white limousine pulled up on the street.

"Take care, okay?" he said, giving the girl a tight hug. "I'm going to miss you, you impossible, amazing woman, you. Don't misbehave or anything."

She laughed. "Makoto, I'm not the nineteen-year old girl you met one and a half years ago, you know."

"But we won't be seeing each other for… a very long time. I won't have any crowd to control anymore."

They broke the hug and she smiled at him. "I'll miss you, too. And Mr. Akemi, Mr. Etsuko, Mr. Yukari, Ms. Okazaki… _all of you_. We already shed tears last night in the farewell party, didn't we? Don't make me bawl here in the middle of the street…"

Makoto chuckled and ushered his friend into the limousine. "Off you go, little girl. I'm pretty sure that the Hentai Horde you were telling me about are waiting for you at the Nerima Airport, so take it easy and don't beat them up… apply your charismatic skills and just wave and smile, okay?"

"Are you kidding? After almost two years of not seeing them, I miss beating those guys up."

"And your fiancé?" he asked excitedly.

Her beam brightened.

"You'll have lots of great sex and lots of pretty babies?" he asked more excitedly.

They both laughed. "Yes," she replied breezily, "and I'll invite you to the wedding!"

"You _should!_ So… uhm… well…" he murmured awkwardly after sharing a good laugh with her, "goodbye."

"Bye, Makoto," she bade, blowing him a kiss as he closed the door to the limousine, which began its short trip to the Tokyo airport.

She was all alone in the backseat of the limousine. And the damn driver was playing her rendition of _When You Say You Love Me_ in the speakers. It was a song she heard playing over a million times! Not that she was getting sick of it, but maybe listening to L'Arc-en-Ciel for a change will do her good.

After a few minutes, the limousine arrived at the airport. Since she was wearing a white jacket with the collar up so that her neck was covered, she knew that nobody would recognize her when she donned a white hat that sheltered her face. After the staff had finished unloading her things from the limo and loading them on the plane, she patiently waited in line to get inside.

Finally, after taking a seat near the window, she sighed contentedly. _I survived_, she thought happily. _It's not that I hate the fans, but all I want is peace and quiet right now._

A man had just taken a seat beside her. She locked her gaze at the small window beside her, praying that the guy wouldn't recognize her and make a commotion. After ten minutes, the man apparently hadn't noticed her (she thanked her hat), so she sighed in relief as the plane took off from the airport and smoothly flew in the sky.

She glanced shortly beside her to see who the man was. Maybe if he didn't know her, she could engage in a conversation with him so she wouldn't spend all two hours inside the plane shutting up and making her saliva froth. Gross.

She saw that he was wearing an Armani suit. Respectable… maybe the president of a multimillion dollar company? But she couldn't see his face. Turns out, he was reading _Japan Vogue_, a very famous magazine. A very famous magazine where she happened to be on the cover.

She had several full pages about herself in it, as what she had seen a few days ago when Makoto bought her a copy. This was just a part of the long article:

"Akane Tendo, balladeer, soul singer and dancer, and winner of the Best New Artist Award in the Japan Music Awards last year, has just announced in a recent press conference that her album, _Oranges and Strawberries_ which sold millions of copies, is the first and the last one she'll ever make. Many fans – _Akane zealots_, as what many call them – were very disappointed and saddened upon hearing this news, but they eventually understood when the soul star herself explained her very valid reasons.

Nerima's very own Akane Tendo was first discovered by Mr. Hiro Akemi of Turquoise Records when she was sixteen years old during a dance program wherein all the high schools of Nerima had participated. This was then followed by a stunning singing performance in a party afterwards. Miss Tendo was then offered a record deal a few months later, but she refused and said that her studies came first. Thus, when she graduated high school, a more beautiful and talented Akane Tendo was once again offered a record deal by Mr. Akemi. She accepted it.

Some careers took many years to build, but Miss Tendo's took only a year and a half. Her exponentially increasing fame was nothing like Japan had ever seen – she took the country by storm. She won a handful of musical awards and earned the title "Princess of Soul". In the past interviews, she had told us that she was very happy with her lifestyle, although she didn't deny that she truly missed her family and her fiancé (martial arts instructor Ranma Saotome, founder of the Saotome School of Martial Arts, a school with a growing number of branches in Japan) in Nerima.

This, and her desire to take up further studies in college, became her reason for ending her musical career that seemed to gain success overnight. But this didn't stop the people of Japan from appreciating her music, and now that she has stopped making albums, the number of fans are still growing. Truly, Akane Tendo's music will remain in the hearts of the Japanese people."

She cringed, and then carefully adjusted her hat so that it obscured every inch of her face from the man.

"You can't hide from me, Akane Tendo," the man muttered.

She cringed some more, pretending to not hear him.

"I can't deny that I'm _hurt_, Miss Tendo," he said. Akane heard him close the magazine, but she didn't move an inch. "We haven't seen each other for a while… but that doesn't give you an excuse to _not talk_ to me anymore. You just made my heart bleed."

"What?" she asked worriedly, dropping her hat and facing the guy whose 'heart was bleeding'. And the moment she saw him, her confused face quickly transformed into a blissful, thrilled one. Her smile was so infectious that the man couldn't help smiling just as wide.

"Greetings from the Hibiki Hot Springs and Spa. You are entitled to one day of relaxation, free of charge. Complimentary packages will be given, consisting of the finest soaps, shampoos and body scrubs. And because you look exceptionally beautiful, you will also receive a basket of oranges and strawberries freshly picked from the Tendo-Saotome Farm."

"_Ryouga_!" Akane broke her silence. She suddenly didn't care about _peace and quiet_ anymore as she hastily pulled Ryouga into and close embrace, one that almost completely blocked the air passage to his lungs.

"A-Akane…" he managed to choke out, "c-can't breathe…"

She quickly withdrew. "Sorry!" she squealed, unable to contain her enthusiasm. She looked at him. His hair was a little longer than she remembered, and he wasn't wearing the patterned bandana anymore… although he still wore the same fanged smile. She took hold of his hand and squeezed it tightly.

He squeezed back. "How are you?" he asked just as excitedly.

Her eyes still gleaming with delight, Akane decided that the last thing she needed was the people on the plane recognizing her, because if that happened, she couldn't have a decent conversation with the guy she hadn't seen for almost two years. "Rich and famous, thank you very much," she squeaked in an effort to abate her elated voice. "Oh, _Kami-sama_, I couldn't believe we'd ever meet again… _here_ of all places!"

"Hehe… yeah. The moment I saw you on the plane, I knew I had to suppress shouting your name! You made me suffer for fifteen minutes, do you know that?"

"I am _so_ sorry… I thought you were an Akane zealot…"

"So that's what your fans are called now, eh?"

"Yep," Akane giggled. "Aagh, I missed you so much, Lost Boy…"

"Don't call me that!"

"What, are you scared that your wife'll hear me calling you that name? Where is she anyway?"

"Akari left Tokyo a week before today. There was a bit of trouble in the Nerima branch she had to fix, and since I was the main owner of the spa chain, I had to stay for the National Spa Association seminar."

"Wow, you're really making it big, aren't you?" she marveled. "How many branches do you have around Japan, anyway? It's been almost two years… I need to catch up with the latest news!"

"Five branches. Two in Tokyo. And no," Ryouga said a bit embarrassedly, waving two hands in front of him, "the business is not really _that_ big… maybe… just a little…"

"Oh, you can't fool me. I know how spas work and how much they earn in one day… I go to them all the time. I usually go to the gym first, then the spa… and relax. I need lots of that."

"So you're usually stressed out, huh? I heard you went on a tour for a few weeks straight; that must have drained you. But," he said, looking at her closely, "you look prettier than ever. Wow, your make-up artist must have finished off a whole stick of concealer to hide those eye bags…"

Akane lightly punched his arm, which she noticed was as hard as rock. "No, silly, it just happened that I slept well last night. I didn't use any make-up today, except lip balm."

Ryouga looked at her more closely. "_Really_ pretty!"

"And you don't look half bad, too," she remarked.

Ryouga raised an eyebrow. "_Half bad_? I've been working out everyday for five years and that's all you can say?" He removed his black Armani suit so that what was left on his torso was a thin white shirt, and then he flexed a brilliantly muscled arm. "_This_ isn't half-bad?"

She poked the muscles. "_WOW_," was all she could say. "That's so macho. _Wow_."

"_Wow_ is right," he agreed proudly. Then, putting back his suit, he frowned slightly. "Forgive me Akane, I need to go to the men's room for a minute… my bladder is maddeningly complaining…"

"Sure, go before you wet yourself…" she bade, laughing at her macho friend, who childishly stuck his tongue out before getting up.

Almost five minutes passed, but Ryouga hasn't returned from the men's room. Akane wasn't worried; she enjoyably thought of the poor guy losing his way around the plane and the stewardesses ushering him back to his seat… And so she began to absentmindedly hum, of all songs, _When You Say You Love Me_.

Until she stopped suddenly when she saw a very familiar black figure looking very disgruntled, sitting on Ryouga's seat.

"_P-chan_?"

"Bwee," the little black piglet replied flatly, staring emphatically at the back of the seat in front of him.

She thought she was hallucinating. She was so SURE that she left P-chan back in Nerima. And if in some impossible, twisted way, he really found his way to this airplane, he wouldn't be a _piglet_… he'd be a big black PIG! Because it's been two years!

Before Akane could snap out of her frantic thoughts, P-chan poked his head in the aisle and after having found what he was waiting for, he hopped off the seat and started walking, ignoring the stares of the other passengers in the plane.

A minute later, Ryouga came back to his seat.

"_Ryouga, did you just see a black piglet walking in the plane?_" Akane asked, her voice tinted greatly with confusion and doubt.

He raised an eyebrow. "Uh, no. Why?"

"I think I saw P-chan… he sat on your seat and then left…"

"P-chan… as in the pet piglet you were always telling me about?"

"Yes."

"It's been two years, Akane. P-chan wouldn't be a piglet anymore… he'd be a really big pig," he explained, repeating the words that previously ran through Akane's head. "Ranma's probably feeding him now in Nerima." He put a hand on her head. "Must be all the stress, Princess of Soul."

"R-right."

_And she still has no clue,_ Ryouga thought to himself. It had registered to him a few years ago that, no matter how destiny tried to reveal the truth to Akane, his identity as P-chan will never ever be found out by her. If things became crucial, he doubted that pouring a cold bucket of water on himself in front of Akane would make her realize the truth. And so this particular fear of his had ebbed, making his life much, much better and less neurotic.

After more than an hour of catching up with each other's lives, Akane and Ryouga heard a voice from the speakers, telling the passengers that the plane was going to land in five minutes.

"You better don your hat, Princess," Ryouga advised.

And after twisting her hair in a bun, she did.

Several moments later after a rough landing, the two found themselves exiting the airplane. Ryouga helped Akane with her luggage ("Akane, all these bags are big enough for six people to own!") and together they looked for familiar faces in the airport as they descended on the escalator.

Well, it was Ryouga who scanned the crowd for Ranma and the Tendos. Akane kept herself hidden under the white lacey hat.

From afar, the sharp-eyed Nabiki shook her head. "We'd better tell Akari the bad news. Ryouga's got himself a mistress."

"_What_?" Genma Saotome and Soun Tendo chorused. They followed Nabiki's manicured nails that pointed towards Ryouga, looking slightly happier than the usual while carrying a number of huge bags. He was accompanied by a lady dressed in white. A broad, white lace hat covered her face from their view, but they could tell that she was… very pretty.

A few seconds later, Ryouga spotted the family and met up with them.

"Hello Saotome-san, Tendo-san and Nabiki," he greeted, putting the heavy bags down. He shortly put an arm around the shoulders of the mystery lady in white, whose head was tilted down. "Where's Ranma?"

"The boy went somewhere a minute ago, didn't tell us where he was headed to," Genma answered, adjusting his glasses and taking a closer look at Ryouga's companion.

"So how was the trip, Ryouga?" Soun asked.

"Rough take off, smooth flying, rough landing. As always. How's the farming business?"

"Booming!" the Tendo patriarch replied. "With all the women in Japan dieting, fruits are in demand. Genma and I still can't believe the income _flooding_ in!"

"That's very good news!"

"Does Akari know about _her_?" Nabiki asked, her eyes flickering with suspicion upon the mystery lady. "Don't you want to introduce your guest to us?"

To her surprise, the Lost Boy smiled widely. "Introduce? She doesn't need introducing – you all know her already."

The mystery lady tilted her hat a little so that the three could see her face.

"Hi, I'm Ryouga's mistress, Akane Tendo," she said brightly, an amused smile playing on her face.

"AKANE!" the three yelled happily. Nabiki immediately embraced her sister while Akane clutched her father's hand. Genma patted the hat on her head. "_Kami_, sis, you looked like a supermodel when you came down the escalator," Nabiki remarked.

"My child! The Princess of Soul!" Soun cried as his youngest daughter hugged him.

"Not too noisily, Dad, we don't want the people to form a crowd around us," Akane explained, pulling away from the hug. She looked around, making sure that her hat was still obscuring her face from view. "Where's Kasumi?"

"Cooking at home for your homecoming. You ought to be glad, sis, Kasumi's really in demand in her restaurant, it's a wonder how she even found the time to cook at _home_!"

"Oh, really? Wow, everybody's in demand and rich now!"

They all laughed. "Good things happen to good people," Ryouga proclaimed. Everyone nodded in agreement.

Akane looked around for a second time. "Where's–"

"Oi, Ryouga, I see you're home… and you didn't get lost, ain't that just nice!"

The five of them turned around to see Ranma Saotome, taller and more handsome, still in his usual red polo shirt and black pants.

"Shut up, Ranma," Ryouga said, rolling his eyes. "Who are you waiting for?"

The pigtailed martial artist looked at Nabiki, Soun and Genma. "They didn't tell you? We're waiting for Akane. Her flight's… hey, her plane should have arrived just now, same time as you. Wasn't she in your flight?"

"Nope, didn't see her."

Ranma frowned. "Maybe some zealots saw her and crowded all over her."

"Maybe, maybe," Nabiki agreed in an unnaturally pleased voice.

"Damn zealots," he muttered.

"You miss her _so much_, Ranma-kun?" Soun Tendo asked, arm in arm with Genma.

Ranma took a quick glance at the escalator and faced the family. "_So much? So much_ doesn't even describe it!" he said, his face burning with something they couldn't place. "She called me a few hours ago, and hell, hearing her voice made me miss her more! I can't stop myself, I'll take her there on the floor the moment I see her…"

"Ranma, the Princess of Soul wouldn't want to lose her virginity on the floor of the Nerima Airport with all the people watching," Ryouga informed. "Go get a hotel room first."

"That's why I got two limos," Ranma explained. "One for the two of us and one for the rest of you."

"I doubt she'd want to lose her virginity in a car, neither," Nabiki uttered.

Ranma snorted. "Of course I won't do that. She said to wait for the honeymoon. Remember that, Ryouga?"

The fanged boy raised his eyebrows, remembering the night when Ranma intruded into the bathroom where Akane had almost dipped P-chan into the bathtub of warm water, the night when she was kidnapped by the Chinese bimbo and the deranged gymnast. "Yeah, I do…" he said reminiscently, a smile stretching on his lips.

At this point in time, Ranma began pacing back and forth in front of the family.

"Nervous, boy?" Genma asked.

"Hell, yes!"

"Oh, I'm really sorry… I forgot to introduce you my guest!" Ryouga suddenly exclaimed.

Ranma stopped pacing and for the first time noticed the hat-wearing lady dressed in white who was standing beside Ryouga all along, her head bowed down. Ranma must have been _that_ nervous as to not notice her.

"Really pretty, isn't she, Ranma-kun?" Nabiki asked temptingly.

"Y-yeah, but Akane's prettier," he said, point-blank. "Akane's not that tall, she'd have to wear heels to be as tall as that lady. Besides, I haven't even seen the person's face."

"Ranma, don't be rude!" Ryouga scolded. "She can hear you, you know!"

"I was just tellin' the truth!"

"Oh, just shut up. Ranma, this is…" he stopped, appearing confused, and then looked at the lady. "What did you say your name was again?"

She took a step forward so that she was standing right in front of Ranma. "Hi, I'm…" She slowly removed her hat so that her hair elegantly flowed down behind her at the same moment when the wind chose to blow. The scent of berry from her long, silky hair wafted into Ranma's nostrils. She smiled. A very beautiful smile. The most beautiful smile he'd ever seen in two years.

"Akane Tendo. Your fiancée. Nice to meet you."

And Ranma just stood there, stunned, his sky blue eyes wide and his mouth agape.

Akane looked confused, but her smile was still on her lips. "Ryouga," she called, not moving nor taking her eyes off the man in front of her, "it seems that Mr. Saotome doesn't–"

She didn't get to finish her sentence, because Ranma abruptly pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her, causing her to drop her hat. He buried his face in her soft hair and relished the feeling of embracing her, a feeling he hadn't felt for a very, very long time. Besides, if he didn't hide his face in her hair, he was afraid that the whole family would see him cry on the spot.

He felt her hands crawl up his back, pulling her closer to him. She felt how stronger he was, how bigger his muscles were, developed over the years of practicing and teaching martial arts.

And then there was fanatical screaming.

The zealots had found them.

Male voices shouting. Kuno's voice stood out.

The Furinkan Hentai Horde joined the chase.

Without a word, Ranma lifted Akane up, one arm carrying the back of her knees, the other carrying her shoulders. Escaping the noise, he rushed her outside where two limousines were waiting for them. He positioned Akane inside before going in himself, leaving the Tendos, his father, and Ryouga to carry the luggage to the other limousine. Their transport had started the engine and drove away from the screaming fans.

"You," Ranma said, his breath hot and heavy, leaning towards Akane, "are the most evil fiancé on this planet." He lightly brushed his lips against hers. "How could you just stand there while I suffered like a…"

She didn't let him continue as she closed the small distance between their lips. Their eyes closed. She immediately got out of her white jacket, which she threw on the floor of the car. Both of them skillfully shifted so that Akane was fully stretched on the wide backseat covered with black leather. She wrapped her arms around the pigtailed martial artist who was on top of her. His hands roamed her sides. She kissed him again. He kissed her back. Soft, feather-light, tingly, nice, painful longing for more. Suddenly his lips were tightly pressed against her soft ones, followed by his tongue dancing on them. She sighed blissfully, permitting entry. She tasted like honey. He tasted like oranges.

He pulled away to breathe in, and he exhaled heavily an almost inaudible "I love you," down her neck. She whimpered, her eyelashes fluttering open and close. She sighed the same thing. His tongue traveled from her neck to the spot behind her ear to her earlobe. He nibbled. Akane felt heavenly pain all over her.

Unconsciously, she folded one of her legs up. Ranma groaned. Akane's knee just slipped between his two legs and her leg rubbed against him. Akane realized it and brought her leg down, and another groan escaped her fiancé's lips. She smiled impishly. _Men_, she mentally laughed.

He bit her naked shoulder. She drew in a sharp intake of breath. His hands slowly undid the first three buttons of her top. His lips and tongue danced on her neck again, nipping. Lower, her collarbone. Lower, her chest. Lower… she gasped. He smiled. _Women_, he thought amusedly.

She unbuttoned his shirt, wanting to be equal. He quickly shrugged his clothing off, eager to feel Akane's smooth hands on his body. Her eyes widened. "Ranma," she gasped, uttering her first word in minutes upon seeing her fiancé's firm, muscled, spectacularly sculpted chest and abdomen, "You… you're…"

"Sexy?" he suggested, a mischievous bad guy grin splitting across his face before he leaned down and took her lips again. Her hands explored every inch of his perfectly chiseled torso while his tongue explored every inch of her mouth, memorizing every curve and space.

They didn't notice that the car had already stopped in front of the gates of the Tendo residence. A short-haired Kasumi waited for the driver to open the door to the backseat. And when he did…

"Oh my," Kasumi breathed.

* * *

"A toast!"

"Yes, a toast!"

"First of all, to Soun and Genma's farming business!"

Cheers!

"To Kasumi and her restaurant!"

Cheers!

"To Nabiki and her empire!"

"Empire? What empire?"

"Her _empire_, Akane. She's got businesspeople working for her now."

"Oh."

Cheers!

"To Ryouga and his Hot Springs and Spa chains all over Japan!"

Cheers!

"To Ryouga and Akari, and their two twin boys!"

"You have KIDS?"

"Yes. Three months old, both with fangs and an excellent sense of direction."

"Wow!"

Cheers!

"To Ranma and his school of martial arts!"

Cheers!

"To Akane and her successful career!"

Cheers!

"To Akane and her decision to go to college!"

Cheers!

"To Ranma and Akane, and their marriage!"

CHEERS!

"To Happy and his large haul tonight!"

Huh?

Six people and a panda turned to the direction of the croaky voice.

"Oi, who let that wrinkled prune in here?"

"WHO'S A WRINKLED PRUNE?"

"YOU are, hentai old man!"

Rumble. Rolling. Food in the air. The panda catching the falling food in his mouth.

Akane giggled.

She had known her family since she was born. She had known Ranma, Ryouga, Uncle Genma and Happosai since she was sixteen. Until she graduated high school, she bore with their bickering, fun, noise, destruction, drama, murderous enemies, and etcetera.

She started loving Ranma when they were sixteen. It was the most painful age of her life. But in the end, it proved to be one of the most fulfilling. For four years, their relationship had been all about sparring and love and hugs and kisses and occasional name calling. For four years, they didn't worry about anything. Not the amazons because they had left for China. Not the Kunos because they were just plain deranged. Not Ukyou because she was a friend. Not the Jusenkyo curse, because Akane had already fully accepted that part of Ranma.

The day she signed Mr. Akemi's contract, Ranma didn't talk to her and spent the whole Saturday in his room.

The next day, he sweated it out in the dojo until he couldn't move because of exhaustion. He still didn't talk to her.

The third day, he silently walked on the fence while they went to school. He still didn't talk to her.

The fourth day, the same thing happened on the way to school. On the way back home, she slapped his cheek without warning. She didn't apologize. He still didn't talk to her.

The fifth day, Akane went ahead of Ranma to school. Both journeyed alone.

The fifth night, Akane was on the rooftop, gazing at the stars. Ranma joined her. They talked.

A few hours later on her bed, Akane slept comfortably in Ranma's arms.

The day Ranma and Akane wore their togas, Akane cried. She stopped in the middle of her valedictory address and resumed the rest of her speech shakily and encouragingly and with satisfaction. At the end of the address, everybody present at the graduation cried. Her father, two sisters, uncle, teachers, friends, principal. Ranma didn't cry.

The day Akane was about to go to Tokyo, her family accompanied her to the airport.

Among the family, Ranma cried the hardest, followed by P-chan. Ranma kissed Akane breathless before she went to her flight with Mr. Hiro Akemi himself.

The day Akane made her first phone call from Tokyo to Nerima, Ranma suddenly acted like the telephone was his most prized possession. His heart ached badly, and Akane's voice eased the pain. Soun and Kasumi cried, and Nabiki too, even though she hid it. Ranma didn't cry.

The day Kasumi heard her little sister singing in the radio while she was teaching the cooks working in her restaurant, she quickly called the whole family. They listened and became proud and gleeful.

The day Nabiki was channel surfing and saw her little sister's music video on television, she told _everybody_ she knew. Investments poured in all of a sudden.

The day Ranma was told by a ten-year old student in his dojo that Akane Tendo was the most beautiful girl in the world and the most wonderful singer in Japan, Ranma bought his own mobile phone and called Akane to tell her about it. She was tired from a concert tour, but Ranma's voice relieved her aching bones.

The day Akane won the Best New Artist Award in the Japan Music Awards, all of Japan tuned in to the same show. She made a performance after that, and her lovely voice reached even the rural places of the country. The Tendos, Saotomes, and Ryouga celebrated in the dojo for Akane's success.

The day Ryouga got married to Akari, Akane was all apologies because she couldn't come. Ryouga said it was okay, but Akane felt horrible. So she went to the best cake shop in Tokyo and bought the tallest, most beautiful and elegant wedding cake there was. She had it delivered to the wedding in Nerima. Akari was in tears when she thanked Akane over the phone.

The day the Hibiki Hot Springs and Spa opened its first branch in Tokyo, Akane knew that it was no other Hibiki. Ryouga had said that he was promoted from being a lifeguard, and he just kept being promoted. Akane quickly guessed that Ryouga owned the spa, and so she entered it and found out it was true. But no matter how they tried, Ryouga and Akane cannot find any vacant spot in their schedule, so they didn't meet up.

On Christmas and New Year holidays, Akane couldn't come home because of her tight schedule. Instead, she greeted them on television while hosting a nationally-watched show that night.

The day Genma and Soun bought their land, Akane congratulated them. They started planting and the seeds started growing. Soon, it was harvest time. Less than a week later, all the fruits had been sold. Everybody celebrated.

The day Akane called to say that she was coming home, everybody rejoiced.

The day Akane came home, she decided that time appeared to fly so fast. It seemed like yesterday when she started her dance lessons and – what was her name? – Aiko-sensei had taught her some moves. She and Ranma argued like a cat and a dog. It was excruciating. And then they apologized and got together. And the next thing she knew, she became the Princess of Soul, an overnight success.

_That's silly_, she told herself. _Five years' worth of time happening in one day? Impossible_.

But one thing kept tugging at the back of her mind. It never left her alone.

Everything… everything just changed overnight.

Time _is_ gold.

And right after deciding that because time is gold, she should value every moment with Ranma as he slept soundly, embracing her on the bed… she told herself, more confidently than ever, _Even though my life isn't exactly perfect…_

She gazed at his handsome face and gave in to the temptation of kissing his lips.

His embrace tightened as a mild smile became evident on his features. She rested her head on his chest and closed her eyes contentedly.

_I'm happy._

* * *

**Many thanks to:** UnheardSymphony, Kinai, Aisha C, GeminiST, Palmtree, Kaoru-chan6, SquirrelnoShi, nightwarp, Cyndi1, independen-and-happy1373, Daide, Phantom Crossing, I8u2, consequences, DarkBlueHated, rosch, mimma, Percy 'Leari and Jo, Lady Mokodane, Candlelight Chaos, inu-dbz-1/2, glazedlookineyes101, Albert, Rorax, tomiie, Clavira, Mortanius, Andi-chan, Omi-Hana, bakaforlove, Mensa-13, Kitiara, Nyx Vasquez, animefan55, Anthraxus the Decayed, L-Chan, gigi, Tenshi no Hana-chan, Hikariness and Kawaii-cha, lordofpies, akanefan, Koala Kitty, Paradisefairy83, Story Weaver1, ShadowBakaSama, no-name, Killiara, Pinkie and the Brain, Lexi, mlink, apie, Jim Ohki, SilverBullet23, celest4, a, kenkaoever, saiyuki-cat, Blue hills, Inu'sHardcoreBitch3, Ketsu-Paire, fallenone, darcchaos, saphira12, mike, Krizz, Bárbara Guevara, dante hunter, Domie womie, amy, mysticalnightstalker, Rachel, blue faery, mdizzle, Miko Miko Nurse1, xfalsetruth06x, AttackingHentaiChibisLoveFluff, neo82, heartdragon(akane10)(0 susan), susan, Little Girl in the Hat, A.Nonymous, Expired Doughnuts, misakichi1, nma, solsanches, Jace3, WolfGirl123, chocolate, hashiba42, Mukira, kenshinlover2002, Puppkid, Darth Hawk 32, thereviewergirl, elssfdsdf, and ss4-link.

**Very special thanks to:** The-Shadow002, Den Scurman, WiNd, and the anonymous reviewer Yue, whose words of encouragement, assurance, and praise completely moved me.

Phew, I spent a lot of time copying and pasting those names!

Oh, and about the soul singer thing? I'm sure most of you have heard Noriko Hidaka (seiyuu for Akane Tendo in Japanese) sing. She's good. (",) It was her voice that I imagined singing throughout this fic. I suggest you listen to "The Ballad of Ranma and Akane", "Secrets of The Heart Split in Two", both from the Ranma 1/2 soundtrack, and "Innocence" from the Rurouni Kenshin soundtrack. (",)

And the kissing? They're about 20-21 years old. Give them a break, they know what they're doing. ;)

For the info of anybody who cares, I started this a very long time ago… this is just a product of my childish imagination (so predictably, it didn't really have a plot). I sort of abandoned it halfway, and… well, as time passed, I became really OC and cringed every time I saw its stale status. So with the help of a lot of willpower and chocolate, I resumed writing when I became a bit older and gave it a plot (kinda). Again, thanks for forgiving my laziness and weirdness, and lots of gratitude for reading. It's been a blast writing this soap opera, such an emotional ride that made me laugh and sniff and bang my fist on the table in frustration.

Remember that no life is perfect, and what's important is you're happy. Do what makes you happy, be with people who make you happy… and you'll surely enjoy life. It won't just pass you by until you can't remember anything anymore… when you're happy, your life would seem to change overnight from bad to good and you won't end up losing your memories in between. I hope to see all of you very soon!

Always,

Trevelyan Duke


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